■a*^4. 


Jv 


W£ 


TREASURE 
ISLAND 


S-y, 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


:#<& 


i 


PRESENTED  BY 


The  Estate  of 
Virginia  Martin  Mullaney 


»fi  «£B 


This  book  must  not 
be  taken  from  the 
Library  building. 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 
LIBRARY 


ir. 


unoL 


J   H 
Stevenson 


TREASURE  ISLAND 


w 


ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON 


M.  A.  DON0HUE  &  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


Rider  Agents  WANTED 

~  Boys  and  ^oung  men  everywhere  are 
making  good  money  taking  orders  for 
"Ranger"  bicycles  and  bicycle  tires. 
You  are  privileged  to  select  the  par- 
ticular style  of  Ranger  bicycle  you  prefer: 
Motorbike  model,  "Arch-Frame,"  "Superbe" 
"Scout,"  "Special,"  "Racer,"  etc.^  While 
>u  ride  and  enjoy  it  in  your  spare  time  hours 
—after  school  or  worfs,evenings  and  hol- 
idays— your  admiring  friends  can  be  easily 
induced  to  place  their  orders  through  you. 

Factory  to  Rider  SmssStC 

cycle  (on  our  f actory-direet-tc-the-rider  sales  plan) 
gets  a  high-grade  fully  guaranteed  model  direct 
from  the  factory  at  wholesale  prices,  and  is  priv- 
ileged to  ride  it  for  30  days  before  final  acceptance. 
If  not  satisfied  it  may  be  returned  at  our  expense 
and  no  charge  is  made  for  the  use  of  machine  dur- 
ing trial. 

Delivered  to  You  FREE 

We  prepay  the  delivery 
from  our  fac- 
tory in  Chica- 
go to  your  town 
and    pay  the 
return  charges 
to  Chicago  if 
you  decide  not  to  keep  it.    If  you  want 
to  be  a  Rider  Agent  or  if  you  want  a  good 
bicycle  at  a  low  price,  write  us  today 
for  the  big  free  Raager  Catalog,  wholesale 
prices,  terms  and  full  particulars. 

Farts  For  All  Bicycles 

In  the  Ranger  catalog  you  will  find  illus- 
trated bicycle  cranks,  cups,  cones,  sprock* 
eta  and  a  complete  Universal  Repair 
Hanger  and  Repair  Front  Forks  designed 
to  fit  any  and  every  bicycle  ever  manufac- 
tured in  America,  Complete  instructions 
are  given  so  that  any  boy  can  intelligently 
order  the  parts  wanted.  You  will  also  find 
repair  parts  for  all  the  standard  makes  of 
hubs  and  coaster-brakes  and  all  the  latest 
equipment  and  novelties.  «■< 

Tires  at  Factory  Prices 

on?  savings  in  Trainload  Tire  Contracts  and  in  the  I 

R  3  cord  acd  Hedge  thorn  Tires  get  the  best  Tire  values  in 

America  at  Wholesale  Factory  Prices. 

^fegfcrSff!  ftlrt  IU£f&n£*tf  But-write  us  TODAY  for  the  BtsV 

se«W  S^v  WlVfiey  Ranger  Book  and  particulars  o£x 

our  39  Day  Free  Trial  Plan,  wholesale  prices  and  terms. 

CYCLE  COMPANYj 


Ghslee  of 

■*■*  Colors 
and  Sizes  in 
ttitHsngorline 


MEAD 


Sept.  0210  CHICAGO,  U.S., 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


PART  I. 
TIE  OLD  BUCCANEER. 

CHAPTER  I. 

*HS  OL®  SEA-DOG  AT  THE  ADMIRAL  BENBOW. 

Squire  Trelawney,  Dr.  Livesey  and  the  rest  of  these 
gentlemen  having  asked  me  to  write  down  the  whole 
particulars  about  Treasure  Island,  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end,  keeping  nothing  back  but  the  bearings  of 
the  island,  and  that  only  because  there  is  still  treas- 
ure not  yet  lifted,  I  take  up  my  pen  in  the  year  of 
grace  17 — ,  and  go  back  to  the  time  when  my  father 
kept  ine  Admiral  Benbow  Inn,  and  the  brown  old 
seaman,  with  the  saber  cut,  first  took  up  his  lodging 
under  our  roof. 

I  remember  him  as  if  it  were  yesterday,  as  he  came 
plodding  to  the  inn  door,  his  sea-chest  following  be- 
hind him  in  a  hand-barrow;  a  tall,  strong,  heavy,  nut- 
brown  man;  his  tarry  pig-tail  falling  over  the  shoul- 
ders ot  his  soiled  blue  coat;  his  hands  ragged  and 


£  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

scarred,  -with  black,  broken  nails,  and  the  saber  out 
across  one  cheek,  a  dirty,  livid  white.  I  remember 
him  looking  round  the  cove  and  whistling  to  himself 
as  he  did  so,  and  then  breaking  out  in  that  old  sea-song 
that  he  sung  so  often  afterward: 

"Fifteen  men  on  the  dead  man's  chest— 
Yo-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum!" 

in  the  high,  old  tottering  voice  that  seemed  to  have 
been  tuned  and  broken  at  the  capstan  bars.  Then  he 
rapped  on  the  door  with  a  bit  of  stick  like  a  hand- 
spike that  he  carried,  and  when  my  father  appeared, 
called  roughly  for  a  glass  of  rum.  This,  when  it  was 
brought  to  him,  he  drank  slowly,  like  a  connoisseur, 
lingering  on  the  taste,  and  still  looking  about  him  at 
the  cliffs  and  up  at  our  sign-board. 

"This  is  a  handy  cove,"  says  he,  at  length;  "and  a 
pleasant  sittyated  grog-shop.  Much  company,  mate?" 

My  father  told  him  no,  very  little  company,  the  more 
was  the  pity. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "this  is  the  berth  for  me. 
Here  you,  matey,"  he  cried  to  the  man  who  trundled 
the  barrow;  "bring  up  alongside  and  help  up  my  chest 
I'll  stay  here  a  bit,"  he  continued.  "I'm  a  plain  man; 
rum  and  bacon  and  eggs  is  what  I  want,  and  that 
head  up  there  for  to  watch  ships  off.  What  you  mought 
call  me?  You  mought  call  me  captain.  Oh,  I  see  what 
you're  at— there;"  and  he  threw  down  three  or  four 
gold  pieces  on  the  threshold.  "You  can  tell  me  when 
I've  worked  through  that,"  says  he,  looking  as  fierce 
as  a  commander. 

And,  indeed,  bad  as  his  clothes  were,  and  coarsely 
as  he  spoke,  he  had  none  of  the  appearance  of  a  man 
who  sailed  before  the  mast;  but  seemed  like  a  mate 
or  skipper,  accustomed  to  be  obeyed  or  to  strike.  The 
man  who  came  with  the  barrow  told  us  the  mail  had 
set  him  down  the  morning  before  at  the  Royal  George; 


TREASURE  ISLANDt  * 

tha  d  inquired  what  inns  there  were  along  the 

wait,  and  hearing  ours  well  spoken  of,  I  suppose,  and ' 
fiescribed  as  lonely,  had  chosen  it  from  the  others  for 
his  place  of  residence.    And  that  was  all  we  could 
learn  of  our  guest. 

He  was  a  very  silent  man  by  custom.  All  day  he 
hung  round  the  cove,  or  upon  the  cliffs,  with  a  brass 
telescope;  all  evening  he  sat  in  a  corner  of  the  parlor 
next  the  fire,  and  drank  rum  and  water  very  strong. 
Mostly  he  would  not  speak  when  spoken  to;  only  look 
up  sudden  and  fierce,  and  blow  through  his  nose  like 
a  fog-horn;  and  we  and  the  people  who  came  about 
our  house  soon  learned  to  let  him  be.  Every  day, 
when  he  came  back  from  his  stroll,  he  would  ask  if 
any  seafaring  men  had  gone  by  along  the  road.  At 
first  we  thought  it  was  the  want  of  company  of  his 
own  kind  that  made  him  ask  this  question;  but  at 
last  we  began  to  see  he  was  desirous  to  avoid  them. 
When  a  seaman  put  up  at  the  Admiral  Benbow  (as 
now  and  then  some  did,  making  by  the  coast  road  for 
Bristol),  he  would  look  in  at  him  through  the  cur- 
tained door  before  he  entered  the  parlor;  and  he  was 
always  sure  to  be  as  silent  as  a  mouse  when  any  such 
was  present.  For  me,  at  least,  there  was  no  secret 
about  the  matter;  for  I  was,  in  a  way,  a  sharer  in  his 
alarms. 

He  had  taken  me  aside  one  day,  and  promised  me  a 
silver  f ourpenny  on  the  first  of  every  month  if  I  would 
only  keep  my  "weather-eye  open  for  a  seafaring  man 
with  one  leg,"  and  let  him  know  the  moment  he  ap- 
peared. Often  enough,  when  the  first  of  the  month 
came  round,  and  I  applied  to  him  for  my  wage,  he 
would  only  blow  through  his  nose  at  me,  and  stare 
me  down,  but  before  the  week  was  out  he  was  sure 
to  think  better  of  it,  bring  me  my  fourpenny  piece, 
and  repeat  his  orders  to  look  out  for  "the  seafaring 
man  with  one  leg." 


£  TREASURE    CSLAND. 

How  that  personage  hauct^d  my  dreams,  I  need 
scarcely  tell  you.  On  stormy  nights,  when  the  wind 
shook  the  four  corners  of  the  house,,  and  the  surf 
roared  along  the  cove  and  up  *he  cliffs,  I  would  see 
him  in  a  thousand  forms,  and  with  a  thousand  diabol- 
ical expressions.  Now  the  leg  w*.uld  be  cut  off  at  the 
knee,  now  at  the  hip;  now  he  was  a  monstrous  kind  of 
a  creature  who  had  never  had  but  the  one  leg,  and 
tuat  in  the  middle  of  his  body.  T»  see  him  leap  and 
run  and  pursue  me  over  hedge  aud  ditch,  was  the 
worst  of  nightmares.  And  altogether  I  paid  pretty 
dear  for  my  monthly  fourpenny  piec*  in  the  shape  of 
these  abominable  fancies. 

But  though  I  was  so  terrified  by  t»\e  idea  of  the 
seafaring  man  with  one  leg,  I  was  far  less  afraid  of 
the  captain  himself  than  anybody  else  wlie  knew  him. 
There  were  nights  when  he  took  a  de^ii  more  rum 
and  water  than  his  head  would  carry;  and  then  he 
would  sometimes  sit  and  sing  his  wicked,  old,  wild 
sea-songs,  minding  nobody;  but  sometimeT  he  would 
call  for  glasses  round,  and  force  all  the  trembling 
company  to  listen  to  his  stories  or  bear  a  chorus  to 
his  singing.  Often  I  have  heard  the  housa  shaking 
with  "Yo-he-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum;"  all  the  neigh- 
bors joining  in  for  dear  life,  with  the  fear  of  death 
upon  them,  and  each  singing  louder  than  the  other, 
to  avoid  remark.  For  in  these  fits  he  was  th«  most 
overriding  companion  ever  known;  he  would  sl*p  his 
hand  on  the  table  for  silence  all  round;  he  would  fly 
up  in  a  passion  of  anger  at  a  question,  or  sometimes 
because  none  was  put,  and  so  he  judged  the  company 
was  not  following  his  story.  Nor  would  he  allow.  Any 
one  to  leave  the  inn  till  he  had  drunk  himself  sleepy 
and  reeled  off  to  bed. 

His  stories  were  what  frightened  people  worst  of 
all.  Dreadful  stories  they  were;  about  hanging,  and 
walking  the  plank,  and  storms  at  sea,  and  the  Dry 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  9 

Tortugas,  «,iid  wild  deeds  and  places  on  the  Spanish 
Main.  By  his  own  account,  he  must  have  lived  his 
life  among  some  of  the  wickedest  men  that  God  ever 
allowed  upon  the  sea;  and  the  language  in  which  he 
told  these  stories  shocked  our  plain  country  people 
almost  as  much  as  the  crimes  that  he  described.  My 
father  was  always  saying  the  inn  would  be  ruined, 
for  people  would  soon  cease  coming  there  to  be  tyran- 
nized over  and  put  down,  and  sent  shivering  to  their 
beds;  but  I  really  believe  his  presence  did  us  good. 
People  were  frightened  at  the  time,  but  on  looking 
back  they  rather  liked  it;  it  was  a  fine  excitement  in 
a  quiet  country  life;  and  there  was  even  a  party  of  the 
younger  men  who  pretended  to  admire  him,  calling 
him  a  "true  sea-dog,"  and  a  "real  old  salt,"  and  such 
like  names,  and  saying  there  was  the  sort  of  man 
that  made  England  terrible  at  sea. 

In  one  way,  indeed,  he  bade  fair  to  ruin  us;  for  he 
kept  on  staying  week  after  week,  and  at  last  month 
after  month,  so  that  all  the  money  had  been  long  ex- 
hausted, and  still  my  father  never  plucked  up  the 
heart  to  insist  on  having  more.  If  ever  he  mentioned 
it,  the  captain  blew  through  his  nose  so  loudly,  that 
you  might  say  he  roared,  and  stared  my  poor  father 
out  of  the  room.  I  have  seen  him  wringing  his  hands 
after  such  a  rebuff,  and  I  am  sure  the  annoyance  and 
the  terror  he  lived  in  must  have  greatly  hastened  his 
early  and  unhappy  death. 

All  the  time  he  lived  with  us  the  captain  made  no 
change  whatever  in  his  dress  but  to  buy  some  stock* 
ings  from  a  hawker.  One  of  the  cocks  of  his  hat  hav~ 
ing  fallen  down,  he  let  it  hang  from  that  day  forth, 
though  it  was  a  great  anoyance  when  it  blew.  I  re- 
member the  appearance  of  his  coat,  which  he  patched 
himself  upstairs  in  his  room,  and  which,  before  the 
end,  was  nothing  but  patches.  He  never  wrote  or 
received  a  letter,  and  he  never  spoke  with  any  but 


10  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

the  neighbors,  and  with  these,  for  the  most  part,  only 
when  drunk  on  rum.  The  great  sea-chest  none  of  us 
had  ever  seen  open. 

He  was  only  once  crossed,  and  that  was  toward  the 
end,  when  my  poor  father  was  far  gone  in  a  decline 
that  took  him  off.  Dr.  Livesey  came  late  one  after- 
noon to  see  the  patient,  took  a  bit  of  dinner  from  my 
mother,  and  went  into  the  parlor  to  smoke  a  pipe 
until  his  horse  should  come  down  from  the  hamlet, 
for  we  had  no  stabling  at  the  old  Benbow.  I  followed 
him  in,  and  I  remember  observing  the  contrast  the 
neat,  bright  doctor,  with  his  powder  as  white  as  snow, 
and  his  bright,  black  eyes  and  pleasant  manners,  made 
with  the  coltish  country  folk,  and  above  all,  with  that 
fllthy,  heavy,  bleared  scarecrow  of  a  pirate  of  ours, 
sitting  far  gone  in  rum,  with  his  arms  on  the  table. 
Suddenly  he — the  captain,  that  is — began  to  pipe  up 
>1s  eternal  song: 

"Fifteen  men  on  the  dead  man's  chest— 
Yo-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum! 
Drink  and  the  devil  had  done  for  the  rest— 
Yo-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum!" 

!A.t  first  I  had  supposed  "the  dead  man's  chest"  to  be 
that  identical  big  box  of  his  upstairs  in  the  front  room, 
and  the  thought  had  been  mingled  in  my  nightmares 
with  that  of  the  one-legged  seafaring  man.  But  by 
this  time  we  had  all  along  ceased  to  pay  any  particu- 
lar notice  to  the  song:  it  was  new,  that  night,  to  no- 
body but  Dr.  Livesey,  and  on  him  I  observed  it  did 
not  produce  "an  agreeable  effect,  for  he  looked  up  for 
a  moment  quite  angrily  before  he  went  on  with  his 
talk  to  old  Taylor,  the  gardener,  on  a  new  cure  for 
rheumatics.  In  the  meantime,  the  captain  gradually 
brightened  up  at  his  own  music,  and  at  last  flapped 
his  hand  upon  the  table  before  him  in  a  way  we  all 
knew  to  mean — silence.  The  voices  stopped  at  once, 
all  but  Dr.  Livesey 's:  he  went  on  as  before,  spaattnf! 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  t$ 

£&&f  and  kind,  and  drawing  briskly  at  his  pipe  be- 
tween every  word  or  two.  The  captain  glared  at  him 
tor  awhile,  flapped  his  hand  again,  glared  still  harder, 
and  at  last  broke  out  with  a  villainous,  low  oath: 
'•Silence,  there,  between  decks!" 

"Were  you  addressing  me,  sir?"  says  the  doctor; 
and  when  the  ruffian  had  told  him,  with  another 
oath,  that  this  was  so,  "I  have  only  one  thing  to  say 
to  you,  sir,"  replies  the  doctor,  "that  if  you  keep  on 
drinking  rum,  the  world  will  soon  be  quit  of  a  very 
dirty  scoundrel!" 

The  old  fellow's  fury  was  awful.  He  sprung  to  biff 
feet,  drew  and  opened  a  sailor's  clasp-knife,  and,  bal* 
ancing  it  open  on  the  palm  of  his  hand,  threatened 
to  pin  the  doctor  to  the  wall. 

The  doctor  never  so  much  as  moved.  He  spoke  to 
him,  as  before,  over  his  shoulder,  and  in  the  same 
tone  of  voice;  rather  high,  so  that  all  the  room  might 
hear,  but  perfectly  calm  and  steady: 

"If  you  do  not  put  that  knife  this  instant  into  your 
pocket,  I  promise,  upon  my  honor,  you  shall  hang  at 
next  assizes." 

Then  followed  a  battle  01  looks  between  them;  but 
the  captain  soon  knuckled  under,  put  up  his  weapon, 
and  resumed  his  seat,  grumbling  like  a  beaten  dog. 

"And  now,  sir,"  continued  the  doctor,  "since  I  now 
know  there's  such  a  fellow  in  my  district,  you  may 
count  I'll  have  an  eye  upon  you  day  and  night.  I'm 
not  a  doctor  only;  I'm  a  magistrate;  and  if  I  catch  a 
breath  of  complaint  against  you,  if  it's  only  for  a  piece 
Of  incivility  like  to-night's,  I'll  take  effectual  means 
to  have  you  hunted  down  and  routed  out  of  this.  Let 
that  sufiice." 

Soon  after  Dr.  Livesey's  horse  came  to  the  door,  and 
he  rode  away;  but  the  captain  held  his  peace  that 
evening,  and  for  many  evenings  to  come. 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BLACK  DOG  APPEARS  AND  DISAPPEARS. 

It  was  not  very  long  after  this  that  there  occurred 
the  first  of  the  mysterious  events  that  rid  us  at  last  of 
the  captain,  though  not,  as  you  will  see,  of  his  affairs. 
It  was  a  bitter  cold  winter,  with  long,  hard  frosts  and 
heavy  gales;  and  it  was  plain  from  the  first  that  my 
poor  father  was  little  likely  to  see  the  spring.  He 
sunk  daily,  and  my  mother  and  I  had  all  the  inn  upon 
our  hands;  and  were  kept  busy  enough  without  payc 
ing  much  regard  to  our  unpleasant  guest. 

It  was  one  January  morning,  very  early — a  pinch* 
ing,  frosty  morning — the  cove  all  gray  with  hoar* 
frost,  the  ripple  lapping  softly  on  the  stones,  the  sun 
still  low,  and  only  touching  the  hill-tops  and  shin- 
ing far  to  seaward.  The  captain  had  risen  earlier 
than  usual,  and  set  out  down  the  beach,  kis  cutlass 
swinging  under  the  broad  skirts  of  the  old  blue  coat, 
his  brass  telescope  under  his  arm,  his  hat  tilted  back 
upon  his  head.  I  remember  his  breath  hanging  like 
smoke  in  his  wake  as  he  strode  off,  and  the  last 
sound  I  heard  of  him,  as  he  turned  the  big  rock,  was 
a  loud  snort  of  indignation,  as  though  his  mind  was 
still  running  upon  Dr.  Livesey. 

Well,  mother  was  upstairs  with  father;  and  I  was 
laying  the  breakfast  table  against  the  captain's  re- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  13 

turn*  when  the  parlor  door  opened,  and  a  man  stepped 
in  on  whom  I  had  never  set  my  eyes  before.  He  was 
a  pale,  tallowy  creature,  wanting  two  fingers  of  the 
left  hand;  and,  though  he  wore  a  cutlass,  he  did  not 
look  much  like  a  fighter.  I  had  always  my  eye  open 
for  seafaring  men,  with  one  leg  or  two,  and  I  remem- 
ber this  one  puzzled  me.  He  was  not  sailorly,  and  yet 
lie  had!  a  smack  of  the  sea  about  him  too. 

I  asked  him  what  was  for  his  service,  and  he  said 
he  would  take  rum;  butt  as  I  was  going  out  of  the  room 
to  fetch  it  he  sat  down  upon  a  table,  and  motioned  to 
me  to  draw  near.  I  paused  where  I  was  with  my  nap- 
kin in  my  hand. 

"Come  here,  sonny,"  says  he.    "Come  nearer  here." 

I  took  a  step  nearer. 

"Is  this  here  table  for  my  mate,  Bill?"  he  asked, 
with  a  kind  ©f  leer.  i 

I  told  him  I  did  not  know  his  mate,  Bill;  and  this 
was  for  a  person  who  stayed  in  our  house,  whom  we 
called  the  captain. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "my  mate  Bill  would  be  called  the 
captain,  as  like  as  not.  He  has  a  cut  on  one  cheek, 
and  a  mighty  pleasant  way  with  him,  particularly  in 
drink,  has  my  mate,  Bill.  We'll  put  it,  for  argument 
like,  that  your  captain  has  a  cut  on  one  cheek — and 
we'll  put  it,  if  you  like,  that  that  cheek's  the  right 
one.  Ah,  well!  I  told  you.  Now,  is  my  mate  Bill  in 
this  here  house?" 

I  told  him  he  was  out  walking. 

"Which  way,  sonny?   Which  way  is  he  gone?" 

And  when  I  had  pointed  out  the  rock  and  told  him 
bow  the  captain  was  likely  to  return,  and  how  soon, 
and  answered  a  few  other  questions,  "Ah,"  said  he, 
*this'll  be  as  good  as  drink  to  my  mate,  Bill." 

The  expression  of  his  face  as  he  said  these  words 
"Was  not  at  all  pleasant,  and  I  had  my  own  reasons 
lor  thinking  that  the  stranger  was  mistaken,  even 


14  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

supposing  he  meant  what  he  said.  But  it  was  no 
affair  of  mine,  I  thought;  and,  besides,  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  know  what  to  do.  The  stranger  kept  hanging 
about  just  inside  the  inn  door,  peering  round  the  cor- 
ner like  a  cat  waiting  for  a  mouse.  Once  I  stepped 
out  myself  into  the  road,  but  he  immediately  called 
me  back,  and,  as  I  did  not  obey  quick  enough  for  his 
fancy,  a  most  horrible  change  came  over  his  tallowy 
face,  and  he  ordered  me  in,  with  an  oath  that  made 
me  jump. 

As  soon  as  I  was  back  again  he  returned  to  his  for- 
mer manner,  half  fawning,  half  sneering,  patted  mo 
on  the  shoulder,  told  me  I  was  a  good  boy,  and  ho 
had  taken  quite  a  fancy  to  me.  "I  have  a  son  of  my 
own,5*  said  he,  "as  like  you  as  two  blocks,  and  he's 
all  the  pride  of  my  'art.  But  the  great  thing  for  boys 
is  discipline,  sonny — discipline.  Now,  if  you  had 
sailed  along  of  Bill,  you  wouldn't  have  stood  there  to 
be  spoke  to  twice — not  you.  That  was  never  Bill's 
way,  nor  the  way  of  sich  as  sailed  with  him.  And 
here,  sure  enough,  is  my  mate,  Bill,  with  a  spy-glass 
under  his  arm,  bless  his  old  'art,  to  be  sure.  You  and 
me'll  just  go  back  into  the  parlor,  sonny,  and  get  be- 
hind the  door,  and  we'll  give  Bill  a  little  surprise — 
bless  his  'art,  I  say  again." 

So  saying,  the  stranger  backed  along  with  me  into 
the  parlor,  and  put  me  behind  him  in  the  corner,  so 
that  we  were  both  hidden  by  the  open  door.  I  was 
very. uneasy  and  alarmed,  as  you  may  fancy,  and  it 
rather  added  to  my  fears  to  observe  that  the  stranger 
was  certainly  frightened  himself.  He  cleared  the  hilt 
of  his  cutlass  and  loosened  the  blade  in  the  sheath; 
and  all  the  time  we  were  waiting  there  he  kept  swal- 
lowing as  if  he  felt  what  we  used  to  call  a  lump  in  the 
throat 

At  last  in  strode  the  captain,  slammed  the  door  be- 
hind him,  without  looking  to  the  right  or  left,  and 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  IS 

marched  straight  across  the  room  to  where  his  br*#k« 
fast  awaited  him. 

'"Bill,"  said  the  stranger,  in  a  voice  that  I  thought 
he  had  tried  to  make  bold  and  big. 

The  captain  spun  round  on  his  heel  and  fronted  us; 
all  the  brown  had  gone  out  of  his  face,  and  even  his 
nose  was  blue;  he  had  the  look  of  a  man  who  sees  a 
ghost,  or  the  Evil  One,  or  something  worse,  of  any- 
thing can  be;  and,  upon  my  word,  I  felt  sorry  to  see 
him,  all  in  a  moment,  turn  so  old  and  sick. 

"Come,  Bill,  you  know  me;  you  know  an  old  sbip- 
mate,  Bill,  surely,"  said  the  stranger. 

The}  captain  made  a  sort  of  gasp. 

"Black  Dog!"  said  he. 

"And  who  else?"  returned  the  other,  getting  more 
at  his  ease.  "Black  Dog  as  ever  was,  come  for  to  see 
his  old  shipmate,  Billy,  at  the  Admiral  Benbow  Inn. 
Ah,  Bill,  Bill,  we  have  seen  a  sight  of  times,  us  two, 
since  I  lost  them  two  talons,"  holding  up  his  muti- 
lated hand. 

"Now,  look  here,"  said  the  captain,  "you've  run  me 
down;  here  I  am;  well,  then,  speak  up;  what  is  it?" 

"That's  you,  Bill,"  returned  Black  Dog,  "you're  in 
the  right  of  it,  Billy.  I'll  have  a  glass  of  rum  from 
this  dear  child  here,  as  I've  took  such  a  liking  to;  and 
we'll  sit  down,  if  you  please,  and  talk  square,  like  old 
shipmates." 

When  I  returned  with  the  rum,  they  were  already 
seated  on  either  side  of  the  captain's  breakfast-table 
— Black  Dog  next  to  the  door,  and  sitting  sideways, 
so  as  to  have  one  eye  on  his  old  shipmate,  and  one, 
as  I  thought,  on  his  retreat. 

He  bade  me  go,  and  leave  the  door  wide  open. 
"None  of  your  key-holes  for  me,  sonny,"  he  saidj  and 
I  left  them  together,  ajid  retired  into  the  bar. 


1«  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

For  a  long  time,  though  I  certainly  did  my  best  to 
listen,  I  could  hear  nothing  but  a  low  gabbling;  but 
at  last  the  voices  began  to  grow  higher,  and  I  could 
pick  up  a  word  or  two,  mostly  oaths,  from  the  cap- 
tain. 

"No,  no,  no,  no;  and  an  end  of  it!"  he  cried  once. 
And  again,  "If  it  comes  to  swinging,  swing  all,  say  I." 

Then  all  of  a  sudden  there  was  a  tremendous  ex- 
plosion of  oaths  and  other  noises — the  chair  and  table 
went  over  in  a  lump,  a  clash  of  steel  followed,  and 
then  a  cry  of  pain,  and  the  next  instant  I  saw  Black 
Dog  In  full  flight,  and  the  captain  hotly  pursuing, 
both  with  drawn  cutlasses,  and  the  former  streaming 
blood  from  the  left  shoulder.  Just  at  the  door,  the 
captain  aimed  at  the  fugitive  one  last  tremendous 
sut,  which  would  certainly  have  split  him  to  the  chine 
had  it  not  been  intercepted  by  our  big  sign-board  of 
Admiral  Beabow.  You  may  see  the  notch  on  the 
lower  side  of  the  frame  to  this  day. 

That  blow  was  the  last  of  the  battle.  Once  out 
upon  the  road,  Black  Dog,  in  spite  of  his  wound, 
showed  a  wonderful  clean  pair  of  heels,  and  disap- 
peared over  the  edge  of  the  hill  in  half  a  minute.  The 
captain,  for  his  part,  stood  staring  at  the  signboard 
like  a  bewildered  man.  Then  he  passed  his  hand  over 
his  eyes  several  times,  and  at  last  turned  back  into 
the  house. 

"Jim,"  says  he,  "rum;"  and,  as  he  spoke,  he  reeled 
a  little,  and  caught  himself  with  one  hand  against 
the  wall. 

"Are  you  hurt?"  cried  I. 

"Rum,"  he  repeated.  "I  must  get  away  from  here. 
Rum  !  rum  !" 

I  ran  to  fetch  it;  but  I  was  quite  unsteadied  by  all 
that  had  fallen  out,  and  I  broke  one  glass  and  fouled 
the  tap,  and  while  I  was  still  getting  in  my  own  way, 


i 

TREASURE  ISLAND.  17 

I  heard  a  loud  fall  in  the  parlor,  and,  running  in,  be- 
held the  captain  lying  full  length  upon  the  floor.  At 
the  same  instant  my  mother,  alarmed  by  the  cries 
and  fighting,  came  running  downstairs  to  help  me. 
Between  us  we  raised  his  head.  He  was  breathing 
very  loud  and  hard;  but  his  eyes  were  closed,  and  his 
face  a  horrible  ctlor. 

"Dear,  deary  me,"  cried  my  mother,  "what  a  dis- 
grace upon  the  house  !    And  your  poor  father  sick  !" 

In  the  meantime,  we  had  no  idea  what  to  do  to  help 
the  captain,  nor  any  other  thought  but  that  he  had 
got  his  death-hurt  in  the  scuffle  with  the  stranger.  I 
got  the  rum,  t©  fee  sure,  and  tried  to  put  it  down  his 
throat;  but  his  teeth  were  tightly  shut,  and  his  jaws 
as  strong  as  iron.  It  was  a  happy  relief  for  us  when 
the  door  opened  and  Dr.  Livesey  came  in,  on  his  visit 
to  my  father. 

"Oh,  doctor,"  we  cried,  "what  shall  we  do?  Where 
is  he  wounded?" 

"Wounded?    A  fiddle-stick's  end  !"  said  the  doctor. 

"No  more  wounded  than  you  or  I.  The  man  has  had  a 
Stroke,  as  I  warned  him.  Now,  Mrs.  Hawkins,  just 
you  run  upstairs  to  your  husband,  and  tell  him,  if 
possible,  nothing  about  it.  For  my  part,  I  must  do 
my  best  to  save  this  fellow's  trebly  worthless  life;  and 
Jim  here  will  get  me  a  basin." 

When  I  get  back  with  the  basin,  the  doctor  had 
already  ripped  up  the  captain's  sleeve,  and  exposed 
his  great  sinewy  arm.  It  was  tattooed  in  several 
places.  "Here's  luck,"  "A  fair  wind,"  ami  "Billy 
Bones  his  fancy,"  were  very  neatly  and  clearly  exe- 
cuted on  the  forearm;  and  up  near  the  shoulder  there 
was  *  sketch  of  a  gallows  and  a  man  hanging  from  It 
—done,  as  I  thought,  with  great  spirit. 

"Prophetic,"  said  the  doctor,  touching  this  picture 
With  his  finger.     "And  now,  Master  Billy  Bones,  if 


IB  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

that  be  year  name,  we'll  have  a  look  at  the  color  of 
your  blood.    Jim,"  he  said,  "are  you  afraid  of  blood?" 

"No,  sir,"  said  I. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "you  hold  the  basin;"  and  with 
that  he  took  his  lancet  and  opened  a  vein. 

A  great  deal  of  blood  was  taken  before  the  captain 
opened  his  eyes  and  looked  mistily  about  him.  First 
he  recognized  the  doctor  with  an  unmistakable  frown; 
then  his  glance  fell  upon  me,  and  he  looked  relieved. 
But  suddenly  his  color  changed,  and  he  tried  to  raise 
himself,  crying: 

"Where's  Black  Dog?" 

"There's  is  no  Black  Dog  here,"  said  the  doctor, 
"except  what  you  have  on  your  own  back.  You  have 
been  drinking  rum;  you  have  had  a  stroke,  precisely 
as  I  told  you;  «ind  I  have  just,  very  much  against  my 
own  will,  dragged  you  headforemost  out  of  the  grave. 
Now,  Mr.  Bones — " 

"That's  not  my  name,"  he  interrupted. 

"Much  I  care,"  returned  the  doctor.  "It's  the  name 
of  a  buccaneer  of  my  acquaintance;  and  I  call  you  by 
it  for  the  sake  of  shortness,  and  what  I  have  to  say 
to  you  is  this:  one  glass  of  rum  won't  kill  you,  but  if 
you  take  one  you'll  take  another  and  another,  and  I 
stake  my  wig  if  you  don't  break  off'short,  you'll  die — 
do  you  understand  that? — die,  and  go  to  your  own 
place,  like  the  man  in  the  Bible.  Come,  now,  make 
an  effort.    I'll  help  you  to  your  bed  for  once." 

Between  us,  with  much  trouble,  we  managed  to 
hoist  him  upstairs,  and  laid  him  on  his  bed,  where 
his  head  fell  back  on  the  pillow,  as  if  he  were  almost 
fainting. 

"Now,  mind  you,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  clear  my  con- 
science— the  name  of  rum  for  you  is  death." 

And  with  that  he  went  off  to  see  my  father,  taking 
me  with  him  by  the  arm. 


TFwEASURE  ISLAND.  If 

"This  is  nothing,"  he  said,  as  soon  as  he  had  closed 
the  door.  "I  have  drawn  blood  enough  to  keep  him 
quiet  awhile;  he  should  lie  for  a  week  where  he  is— * 
that  is  the  best  thing  for  him  and  you;  but  anottor 
stroke  would  settle  him." 


TREASUHE  ISLAND^ 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   BLACK    SPOT. 

About  neon  I  stopepd  at  the  captain's  d@or  with 
some  cooling  drinks  and  medicines.  He  was  lying 
very  much  as  we  had  left  him,  only  a  little  higher, 
and  he  seemed  both  weak  and  excited. 

"Jim,"  he  said,  "you're  the  only  one  here  that's 
worth  anything;  and  you  know  I've  been  always  good 
to  you.  Never  a  month  but  I've  given  you  a  silver 
fourpenny  for  yourself.  And  now  you  see,  mate,  I'm 
pretty  low,  and  deserted  by  all;  and  Jim,  you'll  bring 
me  one  noggin  of  rum,  now  won't  yon,  matey?" 

"The  doctor — "  I  began.   ' 

But  he  broke  in  cursing  the  doctor,  in  a  feeble  voice, 
but  heartily.  "Doctors  is  all  swabs,"  he  said;  "and 
that  doctor  there,  why,  what  do  he  know  about  sea- 
faring men?  I  been  in  places  hot  as  pitch,  and  mates 
dropping  round  with  Yellow  Jack,  and  the  blessed 
land  a-heaving  like  the  sea  with  earthquakes — what 
do  the  doctor  know  of  lands  like  that? — and  I  lived  on 
rum,  I  tell  you.  It's  been  meat  and  drink,  and  man 
and  wife,  to  me;  and  if  I'm  not  to  have  my  rum  now 
I'm  a  poor  old  hulk  on  a  lee  shore,  my  blood'il  be  on 
you,  Jim,  and  that  doctor  swab;"  and  he  ran  on  again 
for  awhile  with  curses.  "Look,  Jim,  how  my  fingers 
fidges,"  he  continued,  in  the  pleading  tone.    "1  can't 


TREASURE  ISLAND-  21 

keep  'em  still,  sot  I.  I  haven't  had  a  drop  this  blessed 
day.  That  doctor's  a  fool,  I  tell  you.  If  I  don't  have 
a  drain  o'  rum,  Jim,  I'll  have  the  horrors;  I  seen  some 
on  'em  already.  I  seen  old  Flint  in  the  corner  there, 
behind  you,  as  plain  as  print,  I  seen  him;  and  if  I  get 
the  horrors,  I'm  a  man  that  has  lived  rough,  and  I'll 
raise  Cain.  Your  doctor  hisselt  said  one  glass 
wouldn't  hurt  me.  I'll  give  you  a  golden  guinea  for  a 
noggin,  Jim." 

He  was  growing  more  and  more  excited,  and  this 
alarmed  me  for  my  father,  who  was  very  low  that 
day,  and  needed  quiet;  besides,  I  was  reassured  by  the 
doctor's  words,  now  quoted  to  me,  and  rather  offended 
by  the  offer  ©f  a  bribe. 

"I  want  none  ©€  your  money,"  said  I,  "but  what  you 
owe  my  father.    I'll  get  you  one  glass,  and  no  more." 

When  I  brought  it  to  him,  he  seized  it  greedily,  and 
drank  it  out. 

"Ay,  ay,"  said  he,  "that's  some  better,  sure  enough. 
And  now,  matey,  did  that  doctor  say  how  long  I  was 
to  lie  here  in  ttes  old  berth?" 

"A  week  at  least,"  said  I. 

"Thunder  !"  he  cried.  "A  week!  I  can't  do  that; 
they'd  have  a  black  spot  on  me  by  then.  The  lubbers 
is  going  about  to  get  the  wind  of  me  this  blessed 
moment;  lubbers  as  couldn't  keep  what  they  got,  and 
want  to  nail  what  is  another's.  Is  that  seamanly  be- 
havior, now,  I  want  to  know?  But  I'm  a  saving  soul. 
I  never  wasted  good  money  of  mine,  nor  lost  it  either; 
and  I'll  trick  'em  again.  I'm  not  afraid  on  'em.  I'll 
shake  out  another  reef,  matey,  and  daddle  'em  again." 

As  he  was  thus  speaking,  he  had  risen  from  bed 
with  great  difficulty,  holding  to  my  shoulder  with  a 
grip  that  almost  made  me  cry  out,  and  moving  his 
legs  like  so  much  dead  weight.  His  words,  spirited 
as  they  were  in  meaning,  contrasted  sadly  with  the 
weakness  of  the  voice  In  which  they  were  uttered 


22  TREASURE  ISLAND 

He  paused  when  he  had  got  into  a  sittiwg  *  yontion  on 
the  edge. 

"That  doctor's  done  me,"  he  murmured.  "My  ears 
is  singing.    Lay  me  back." 

Before  I  could  do  much  to  help  him  he  had  fallen 
back  again  to  his  former  place,  where  he  lay  for  awhile 
silent. 

"Jim,"  he  said,  at  length,  "you  saw  that  seafaring 
man  to-day?" 

"Black  Dog?"  I  asked, 

"Ah  !  Black  Dog,"  says  he.  *'He's  a  bad  'un;  but 
there's  worse  that  put  him  on.  Now,  if  I  oan't  get 
away  nohew,  and  they  tip  me  the  black  spot,  mfnd 
you,  it's  my  old  sea-chest  they're  after;  you  get  on  a 
horse— you  can,  can't  you?  Well,  then  you  get  on  a 
horse,  and  go  to— well,  yes,  I  will ! — to  that  eternal 
doctor  swab,  and  tell  him  to  J>ipe  %11  hands — magis- 
trates and  sich — and  he'll  lay  'em  aboard  at  the  Ad- 
miral Benbow — all  old  Flint's  crew,  man  and  >oy,  all 
on  'em  that's  left.  I  was  first  mate,  I  was,  old  Flint's 
first  mate,  and  I'm  the  on'y  one  as  knows  the  place. 
He  gave  it  me  to  Savannah,  when  he  lay  a-dying,  like 
as  if  I  was  to  now,  you  see.  But  you  won't  peach"  un- 
less they  get  the  black  spot  on  me,  or  unless  you  see 
that  Black  Dog  again,  or  a  seafaring  man  with  one 
leg,  Jim— him  above  all." 

"But  what  is  the  black  spot,  captain?"  I  asked. 

"That's  a  summons,  mate.  I'll  tell  you  if  they  get 
that.  But  you  keep  your  weather-eye  open,  Jim,  and 
I'll  share  with  you  equals,  upon  my  honor." 

He  wandered  a  little  longer,  his  voice  growing 
weaker ;  but  soon  after  I  had  given  him  his  medicine, 
which  he  took  like  a  child,  with  the  remark,  "if  ever 
a  seaman  wanted  drugs,  it's  me,"  he  fell  at  last  into 
a  heavy,  swooning  sleep  in  which  I  left  Mm.  What 
I  should  have  done  had  all  gone  well  I  do  not  know. 
Probably  I  should  have  told  the  whole  story  to  the 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  $3 

doctor;  for  I  was  in  mortal  fear  lest  the  captain  should 
repent  of  his  confessions  and  make  an  end  of  me.  But 
as  things  fell  out,  my  poor  father  died  quite  suddenly 
that  evening,  which  put  all  other  matters  on  one  side. 
Our  natural  distress,  the  visits  of  the  neighbors,  the 
arranging  of  the  funeral,  and  all  the  work  of  the  inn 
to  be  carried  on  in  the  meanwhile,  kept  me  so  busy 
that  I  had  scarcely  time  to  think  of  the  captain,  far 
less  to  be  afraid  of  him. 

He  got  downstairs  next  morning,  to  be  sure,  and  had 
his  meals  as  usual,  though  he  eat  little,  and  had  more, 
I  am  afraid,  than  his  usual  supply  of  rum,  for  he 
helped  himself  out  of  the  bar,  scowling  and  blowing 
through  his  nose,  and  no  one  dared  to  cross  him.  On 
the  night  before  the  funeral  he  was  as  drunk  as  ever; 
and  it  was  shocking,  in  that  house  of  mourning,  to 
hear  him  singing  away  his  ugly  old  sea-song;  but, 
Weak  as  he  was  we  were  all  in  fear  of  death  for  him, 
and  the  doctor  was  suddenly  taken  up  with  a  case 
many  miles  away,  and  was  never  near  the  house  after 
my  father's  death.  I  have  said  the  captain  was  weak; 
and  indeed  he  seemed  rather  to  grow  weaker  than  re- 
gain his  strength.  He  clambered  up  and  downstairs, 
and  went  from  the  parlor  to  the  bar  and  back  again, 
and  sometimes  put  his  nose  out-of-doors  to  smell  the 
Sea,  holding  on  to  the  walls  as  he  went  for  support, 
and  breathing  hard  and  fast  like  a  man  on  a  steep 
mountain.  He  never  particularly  addressed  me,  and 
it  is  my  belief  he  had  as  good  as  forgotten  his  confi- 
dences; but  his  temper  was  more  flighty,  and,  allow- 
ing for  his  bodily  weakness,  more  violent  than  ever. 
He  had  an  alarming  way  now  when  he  was  drunk  of 
drawing  his  cutlass  and  laying  it  bare  before  him  on 
the  table.  But,  with  all  that,  he  minded  people  less, 
and  seemed  shut  up  in  his  own  thoughts  and  rather 
wandering.  Once,  for  instance,  to  our  extreme  won- 
der, he  piped  up  to  a  different  air,  a  kind  of  country 


24  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

love-song,  that  he  must  have  learned  in  his  youth  be- 
fore  he  had  begun  to  follow  the  sea. 

So  tilings  passed  until,  the  day  after  the  funeral, 
and  about  three  o'clock  of  a  bitter,  foggy,  frosty  after- 
noon, I  was  standing  at  the  door  for  a  moment,  full 
of  sad  thoughts  about  my  father,  when  I  saw  some 
one  drawing  slowly  near  along  the  read.  He  was*, 
plainly  blind,  for  he  tapped  before  him  with  a  stick 
and  wore  a  green  shade  over  his  eyes  and  nose;  and 
he  was  bunched,  as  if  with  age  or  weakness,  and  wore 
a  huge  old  tattered  sea-cloak  with  a  hood  that  made 
him  appear  positively  deformed.  I  never  saw  in  my 
life  a  more  dreadful-looking  figure.  He  stepped  a  lit- 
tle from  the  inn,  and  raising  his  voice  in  an  odd  sing- 
song, addressed  the  air  in  front  of  him: 

"Will  any  kind  friend  inform  a  peor  blind  man,  who 
has  lost  the  precious  sight  of  his  eyes  in  the  gracious 
defense  of  his  native  country,  England,  and  God  bless 
King  George  ! — where  or  in  what  part  of  this  coun- 
try he  may  now  be?" 

"You  are  at  the  Admiral  Benbow,  Black  Hill  Cove, 
my  good  man,"  said  I. 

"I  hear  a  voice,"  said  he,  "a  young  voice.  Will  you 
give  me  your  hand,  my  kind  young  friend,  and  lead 
me  in?" 

I  held  out  my  hand,  and  the  horrible,  soft-spoken, 
eyeless  creature  gripped  it  in  a  moment  like  a  vise. 
I  was  so  much  startled  that  I  struggled  to  withdraw; 
but  the  Wind  man  pulled  me  close  up  to  him  with  a 
single  action  of  his  arm. 

"Now,  boy,"  he  said,  "take  me  in  to  the  captain." 

"Sir,"  said  I,  "upon  my  word  I  dare  not." 

"Oh,"  he  sneered,  "that's  it !  Take  me  in  straight, 
or  I'll  break  your  arm." 

He  gave  it,  as  he  spoke,  a  wrench  that  made  me  cry 
out. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  25 

"Sir,"  said  I,  "it  is  for  yourself  I  mean.  The  captain 
is  not  what  he  used  to  be.  He  sits  with  a  drawn  cut- 
lass.   Another  gentleman- " 

*X3ome,  now,  march,"  interrupted  he;  and  I  !iever 
heard  a  voice  so  cruel,  and  cold,  and  ugly  as  that 
blind  man's.  It  cowed  me  more  than  the  pain;  and  I 
began  to  ©bey  him  at  once,  walking  straight  in  at  the 
door  and  teward  the  parlor,  where  the  sick  old  buc- 
caneer was  sitting,  dazed  with  rum.  The  blind  man 
clung  close  to  me,  holding  me  in  one  iron  fist,  and 
leaning  almost  more  of  his  weight  on  me  than  I  could 
carry.  "Lead  me  straight  up  to  him,  and  when  I'm  in 
view,  cry  out,  'Here's  a  friend  for  you,  Bill.'  If  you 
don't,  I'll  do  this;"  and  with  that  he  gave  me  a  twitch 
that  I  thought  would  have  made  me  faint.  Between 
this  and  that,  I  was  so  utterly  terrified  by  the  blind 
beggar  that  I  forgot  my  terror  of  the  captain,  and  as 
I  opened  the  parlor  door,  cried  out  the  words  he  had 
ordered  in  a  trembling  voice. 

The  poor  captain  raised  his  eyes,  and  at  one  look 
the  rum  went  out  of  him,  and  left  him  staring  sober. 
The  expression  ef  his  face  was  not  so  much  of  terror 
as  of  mortal  sickness.  He  made  a  movement  to  rise, 
but  I  do  n«t  believe  he  had  enough  force  left  in  his 
body. 

"Now,  Bill,  sit  where  you  are,"  said  the  beggar. 
"If  I  can't  see,  I  can  hear  a  finger  stirring.  Business 
is  business.  Held  out  your  left  hand.  Bey,  take  his 
left  hand  hy  the  wrist,  and  bring  it  near  te  ay  right." 

We  both  obeyed  him  to  the  letter,  and  I  saw  him 
pass  something  from  the  hollow  of  the  hand  that  held 
his  stick  into  the  palm  of  the  captain's,  which  closed 
upon  it  instantly. 

"And  now  that's  done,"  said  the  blind  man;  and  at 
the  words  he  suddenly  left  hold  of  me,  and,  with  in- 
credible  accuracy  and  nimbleness,  skipped  out  of  the 
parlor  sod  into  the  road,  where,  as  I  stood  motionless* 


tf  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

I  could  hear  his  stick  go  tap-tap-tapping  into  the  dis- 
tance. 

It  was  some  time  before  either  I  or  the  captain 
seemed  to  gather  our  senses;  but  at  length,  and  about 
the  same  moment,  I  released  his  wrist,  which  I  was 
still  holding,  and  he  drew  in  his  hand,  and  looked 
sharply  into  the  palm. 

"Ten  o'clock !"  he  cried.  "Six  hours.  We'll  do 
them  yet;"  and  he  sprang  to  his  feet. 

Even  as  he  did  so,  he  reeled,  put  his  hand  to  his 
throat,  stood  swaying  for  a  moment,  and  theji,  with 
a  peculiar  sound,  fell  from  his  whole  height  face  fore- 
most to  the  floor. 

I  ran  to  him  at  once,  calling  to  my  mother.  But 
haste  was  all  in  vain.  The  captain  had  been  struck 
dead  by  thundering  apoplexy.  It  is  a  curious  thing 
to  understand,  for  I  had  certainly  never  liked  the 
man,  though  of  late  I  had  begun  to  pity  him,  but  as 
soon  as  I  saw  that  he  was  dead,  I  burst  into  a  flood 
of  tears.  It  was  the  second  death  I  had  known,  and 
the  sorrow  of  the  first  was  still  f resbr  in  my  heart. 


S&SA3URS  ISLAND, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SEA-CHEST. 

I  lost  no  time,  of  course,  in  telling  my  mother  all 
$bat  I  knew,  and  perhaps  should  have  told  her  long 
before,  and  we  saw  ourselves  at  once  in  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  position.  Some  of  the  man's  money — if  he 
had  any — was  certainly  due  to  us;  but  it  was  not 
likely  that  our  captain's  shipmates,  above  all  the  two 
specimens  seen  by  me,  Black  Dog  and  the  blind  beg- 
gar, would  be  inclined  to  give  up  their  booty  in  pay- 
ment of  the  dead  man's  debts.  The  captain's  order 
to  mount  at  once  and  ride  for  Dr.  Livesey  would  have 
left  my  mother  alone  and  unprotected,  which  was  not 
to  be  thought  of.  Indeed,  it  seemed  impossible  for 
either  of  us  to  remain  much  longer  in  the  house;  the 
fall  of  coals  in  the  kitchen  grate,  the  very  ticking  of 
the  clock,  filled  us  with  alarms. 

The  neighborhood,  to  our  ears,  seemed  haunted  by 
approaching  footsteps;  and  what  between  the  dead 
body  of  the  captain  on  the  parlor  floor,  and  the 
thought  of  that  detestable  blind  beggar  hovering  neap 
at  hand  and  ready  to  return,  there  were  moments 
when,  as  the  saying  goes,  I  jumped  in  my  skin  for 
terror.  Something  must  speedily  be  resolved  upon; 
and  it  occurred  to  us  at  last  to  go  forth  together 
and  seek  help  in  the  neighboring  hamlet.    No  sooner 


28  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

said  than  done.  Bare-headed  as  we  were,  we  ran  out 
at  once  in  the  gathering  evening  and  the  frosty  fog. 

The  hamlet  lay  not  many  hundred  yards  away, 
though  out  of  view,  on  the  other  side  of  the  next 
cove;  and  what  greatly  encouraged  me,  it  was  in  an 
opposite  direction  from  that  whence  the  blind  man 
had  made  his  appearance,  and  whither  he  had  pre- 
sumably returned.  We  were  not  many  minutes  on 
the  road,  though  we  sometimes  stopped  to  lay  hold  of 
each  other  and  hearken.  But  there  was  no  unusual 
sound — nothing  but  the  low  wash  of  the  ripple  and 
the  croaking  of  the  crows  in  the  wood. 

It  was  already  candle-light  when  we  reached  the 
hamlet,  and  I  shall  never  forget  how  much  I  was 
cheered  to  see  the  yellow  shine  in  doors  and  windows; 
but  that,  as  it  proved,  was  the  best  of  the  help  we 
were  likely  to  get  in  that  quarter.  For — you  would 
have  thought  men  would  have  been  ashamed  of  them- 
selves— no  soul  would  consent  to  return  with  us  to  the 
Admiral  Benliow.  The  more  we  told  of  our  troubles, 
the  more — man,  woman  and  child— they  clung  to  the 
shelter  ef  their  houses.  The  name  of  Captain  Flint, 
though  it  was  strange  to  me,  was  well  enough  known 
to  some  there,  and  carried  a  great  weight  of  terror. 
Some  of  the  men  who  had  been  to  field-work  on  the 
far  side  of  the  Admiral  Benbow  remembered,  besides, 
to  have  seen  severaT  strangers  on  the  road,  and,  tak- 
ing them  to  be  smugglers,  to  have  bolted  away;  and 
one  at  least  had  seen  a  little  lugger  in  what  we  called 
Kitt's  Hole.  For  that  matter,  any  one  who  was  a  com- 
rade of  the  captain's  was  enough  to  frighten  them  to 
death.  And  the  short  and  the  long  ef  the  matter  was, 
that  while  we  could  get  several  who  were  willing 
enough  to  ride  to  Dr.  Livesey's,  which  lay  in  another 
direction,  not  one  would  help  us  to  defend  the  inn. 

They  say  cowardice  is  infectious;  but  then  argument 
is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  great  emboldener;  and  so  when 


TREASURE  ISLAND,  29 

each  bad  his  say,  my  mother  made  them  a  speech. 
She  would  Hot,  she  declared,  lose  money  that  be- 
longed to  her  fatherless  boy;  "if  none  of  the  rest  of 
you  dare,"  she  saM,  "Jim  and  I  dare.  Back  we  will 
go,  the  way  we  came,  and  small  thanks  to  you  big, 
hulking,  chicken-hearted  men.  We'll  have  that  chest 
open,  if  we  die  lor  it.  And  I'll  thank  you  for  that  bag, 
Mrs.  Crossley,  to  bring  back  our  lawful  money  in." 

Of  course,  I  said  I  would  go  with  my  mother;  and  of 
course  they  all  cried  out  at  our  foolhardiness;  but 
even  then  sot  a  man  would  go  along  with  us.  AH  they 
would  do  was  to  give  me  a  loaded  pistol,  lest  we  were 
attacked;  and  to  promise  to  have  horses  ready  sad- 
dled, in  case  we  were  pursued  on  our  return;  while 
one  lad  was  to  ride  forward  to  the  doctor's  in  search 
of  armed  assistance. 

My  heart  was  beating  fiercely  when  we  two  set  forth 
in  the  cold  night  upon  this  dangerous  venture.  A  full 
moon  was  beginning  to  rise  and  peered  redly  through 
the  upper  edges  of  the  fog,  and  this  increased  our 
haste,  for  it  was  plain,  before  we  came  forth  again, 
that  all  would  be  bright  as  day,  and  our  departure 
exposed  to  the  eyes  of  any  watchers.  We  slipped 
along  the  hedges,  noiseless  and  swift,  nor  did  we  see 
or  hear  anything  to  increase  our  terrors,  till,  to  our 
huge  relief,  the  door  of  the  Admiral  Benbow  had 
closed  behind  us. 

I  slipped  the  bolt  at  once,  and  we  stood  and  panted 
for  a  moment  in  the  dark,  alone  in  the  house  with  the 
dead  captain's  body.  Then  my  mother  got  a  candle 
in  the  bar,  and,  holding  each  other's  hands,  we  ad- 
vanced tat©  the  parlor.  He  lay  as  we  had  left  him,  on 
his  bacfr  witli  his  eyes  open,  and  one  arm  stretched 
out 

"Draw  Sewn  the  blind,  Jim,"  whispered  my  mother; 
"they  might  come  and  watch  outside.  And  now*"  said 
•he,  when  I  had  done  so,  "we  have  to  get  the  key  off 


61  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

that;  and  who's  to  touch  it,  I  should  like  to  know?* 
and  she  gave  a  kind  of  sob  as  she  said  the  words. 

I  went  down  on  my  knees  at  onoe.  On  the  floor 
close  to  his  hand  there  was  a  little  round  of  paper, 
blackened  on  the  one  side.  I  could  not  doubt  that  this 
was  the  black  spot;  and,  taking  it  up,  I  found  written 
on  the  other  side,  in  a  very  good,  clear  hand,  this 
short  message,  "You  have  till  ten  to-night." 

"He  had  till  ten,  mother,"  said  I;  and,  just  as  I  said 
it,  our  old  clock  began  striking.  This  sudden  noise 
startled  us  shockingly;  but  the  news  was  good,  for  it 
was  only  six. 

"Now,  Jim,"  she  said,  "that  key." 

I  felt  in  his  pockets,  one  after  another.  A  few 
small  coins,  a  thimble,  and  some  thread  and  big  need- 
les, a  piece  of  pigtail  tobacco  bitten  away  at  the  end, 
his  gully  with  the  crooked  handle,  a  pocket  compass 
and  a  tinder-box,  were  all  that  they  contained,  and  I 
began  to  despair. 

"Perhaps  it's  round  his  neck,"  suggested  my 
mother. 

Overcoming  a  strong  repugnance,  I  tore  open  his 
shirt  at  the  neck,  and  there,  sure  enough,  hanging  to 
a  bit  of  tarry  string,  which  I  cut  with  his  own  gully, 
we  found  the  key.  At  this  triumph  we  were  filled 
with  hope,  and  hurried  upstairs,  without  delay,  to  the 
little  room  where  he  had  slept  so  long,  and  where  his 
box  had  stood  since  the  day  of  his  arrival. 

It  was  like  any  other  seaman's  chest  on  the  outside, 
the  initial  "B."  burned  on  the  top  of  it  with  a  hot 
Iron,  and  the  corners  somewhat  smashed  and  broken 
as  by  long,ji*>ugh  usage. 

"Give  me  the  key,"  saM  my  mother;  and  though  the 
lock  was  very  stiff,  she  had  turned  it  and  thrown 
back  the  lid  in  a  twinkling. 

A  strong  smell  of  tobacco  and  tar  rose  from  the  in- 
terior, but  nothing  was  to  be  seen  on  the  top  except 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  II 

a  suit  t»f  very  good  clothes,  carefully  tn  ashed  and 
folded.  They  had  never  been  worn,  my  mother  said. 
Under  that,  the  miscellany  began— a  quadrant,  a  tin 
canikin,  several  sticks  of  tobacco,  two  brace  of  very 
handsome  pistols,  a  piece  of  bar  silver,  an  old  Spanish 
watch  and  some  other  trinkets  of  little  value  and 
mostly  of  foreign  make,  a  pair  of  compasses  mounted 
with  brass,  and  five  or  six  curious  West  Indian  shells. 
It  has  often  set  me  thinking  since  that  he  should  have 
carried  about  these  shells  with  him  in  his  wandering, 
guilty,  hunted  life.. 

In  the  meantime,  we  had  found  nothing  of  any  value 
but  the  silver  and  the  trinkets,  and  neither  of  these 
were  in  our  way.  Underneath  there  was  an  old  boat- 
cloak  whitened  with  sea-salt  on  many  a  harbor-bar. 
My  mother  pulled  it  up  with  impatience,  and  there 
lay  before  us,  tho  last  things  in  the  chest,  a  bundle 
tied  up  in  oil-cloth,  and  looking  like  papers,  and  a 
canvas  bag,  that  gave  forth,  at  a  touch,  the  jingle  of 
gold. 

"I'll  show  those  rogues  that  I'm  an  honest  woman," 
said  my  mother.  "I'll  have  my  dues,  and  not  a  far- 
thing over.  Hold  Mrs.  Crossley's  bag."  And  she 
began  to  count  over  the  amount  of  the  captain's  score 
from  the  sailor's  bag  into  the  one  that  I  was  holding. 

It  was  a  long,  difficult  business,  for  the  coins  were 
Of  all  countries  and  sizes — doubloons,  and  louis-d'ors, 
and  guineas,  and  pieces  of  eight,  and  I  know  not  what 
besides,  all  shaken  together  at  random.  The  guineas, 
too,  were  about  the  scarcest,  and  it  was  with  these 
only  that  my  mother  knew  how  to  make  her  count. 

When  we  were  about  half  way  through,  I  suddenly 
put  my  hand  upon  her  arm;  for  I  had  heard  in  the 
silent,  frosty  air,  a  sound  that  brought  my  heart  into 
my  mouth— the  tap-tapping  of  the  blind  man's  stick 
upon  the  frozen  road.  It  drew  nearer  and  nearer, 
while  we  sat  holding  our  breath.  Then  it  struck  sharp 


32  TREASURE  JSLAND. 

on  the  inn  door,  and  then  we  could  iear  the  handle 
being  turned,  and  the  bolt  rattling  as  the  wretched 
being  tried  to  enter;  and  then  there  was  a  long  time 
of  silence  both  within  and  without.  At  last  the  tap- 
ping recommenced,  and  to  our  indescribable  joy  and 
gratitude,  died  slowly  away  again  until  it  ceased  to  be 
heard. 

"Mother,"  said  I,  "take  the  whole  and  let's  be  go- 
ing;" for  I  was  sure  the  bolted  door  must  have  seemed 
suspicious,  and  would  bring  the  whole  hornet's  nest 
about  omr  ears;  though  how  thankful  I  was  that  I  had 
bolted  it,  none  could  tell  who  had  never  met  that  ter- 
rible blind  man. 

But  my  mother,  frightened  as  she  was,  would  not 
consent  to  late  a  fraction  more  than  was  due  to  her, 
and  was  obstinately  unwilling  to  be  content  with  less. 
It  was  not  yet  seven,  she  said,  by  a  long  way;  she 
knew  her  rights  and  she  would  have  them;  and  she 
was  still  arguing  with  me,  when  a  little  low  whistle 
sounded  a  good  way  off  upon  the  hill.  That  was 
enough,  and  more  than  enough,  for  both  of  us. 

"I'll  take  what  I  have,"  she  said,  jumping  to  her 
feet 

"And  I'll  take  this  to  square  the  count,"  said  I, 
Oicfcing  up  the  oilskin  packet. 

Next  moment  we  were  both  groping  downstairs, 
leaving  the  candle  by  the  empty  chest;  and  the  next 
we  had  opened  the  door  and  were  in  full  retreat.  We 
had  not  started  a  moment  too  soon.  The  fog  was  rap- 
idly dispersing;  already  the  moon  shone  quite  clear 
on  the  high  ground  on  either  side;  and  it  was  only 
in  the  exact  bottom  of  tLe  dell  and  round  the  tavern 
door  that  a  thin  veil  still  hung  unbroken  to  conceal 
the  first  steps  of  our  escape.  Far  less  than  half  way 
to  the  hamlet,  very  little  beyond  the  bottom  of  the 
hill,  we  must  come  forth  into  the  moonlight  Nor  was 
this  all;  for  the  sound  of  several  footsteps  running 


TREASURE  ISkANU.  M 

came  already  to  our  ears,  and  as  we  looked  bade  in 
their  direction,  a  light  tossing  to  and  fro,  and  still 
rapidly  advancing,  showed  that  one  of  the  new-com- 
ers carried  a  lantern. 

"My  dear,"  said  my  mother  suddenly,  'take  the 
money  and  run  on.   I  am  going  to  faint.** 

This  was  certainly  the  end  for  both  of  us,  I  thought. 
HoW  I  cursed  the  cowardice  of  the  neighbors;  how  I 
blamed  my  poor  mother  for  her  honesty  and  her  greed, 
for  her  past  foolhardiness  and  present  weakness! 
We  were  just  at  the  little  bridge,  by  good  fortune: 
and  I  helped,  her,  tottering  as  she  was,  to  the  edge  of 
the  bank;  where,  sure  enough,  she  gave  a  sigh  and 
fell  on  my  shoulder.  I  do  not  know  how  I  found  the 
strength  to  do  it  at  all,  and  I  am  afraid  it  was  roughly 
done;  but  I  managed  to  drag  her  down  the  bank  and  a 
little  way  under  the  arch.  Further  I  could  not  move 
her,  for  the  bridge  was  too  low  to  let  me  do  more 
than  crawl  below  it.  So  there  we  had  to  stay— m? 
mother  almost  entirely  exposed*  and  both  «£  m  vttfeSfe 
ear-shot  of  the  lea 


TREASURE  ISfcANIX 


CHAPTER  V, 

mm  LAST  OF  THE  BLIND  MAN. 

My  cariosity,  in  a  sense,  was  stronger  than  my 
ftar;  for  I  could  not  remain  where  I  was,  but  crept 
back  to  the  bank  again,  whence,  sheltering  my  head 
behind  a  bush  of  broom,  I  might  command  the  road 
before  our  door*  I  was  scarcely  in  position  ere  my 
enemies  began  to  arrive,  seven  or  eight  of  them,  run- 
ning hard,  their  feet  beating  out  of  time  along  the 
road,  and  the  man  with  the  lantern  some  paces  in 
front.  Three  men  ran  together,  hand  in  hand;  and  I 
made  out,  even  through  the  mist,  that  the  middle  man 
Of  this  trio  was  the  blind  beggar.  The  next  movant 
bis  voice  showed  me  that  I  was  right. 

•Down  with  the  door  V  he  cried. 

"Ay,  ay,  sir !"  answered  two  or  three;  and  a  rush 
was  made  upon  the  Admiral  Benbow,  the  lantern* 
bearer  following;  and  then  I  could  see  them  pause, 
and  hear  speeches  passed  in  a  lower  key,  as  if  they 
were  surprised  to  find  the  door  open.  But  the  pause 
was  brief,  for  the  blind  man  again  issued  his  com- 
mands. His  voice  sounded  louder  and  higher,  as  if  be 
were  afire  with  eagerness  and  rage, 

"In,  i&  in !"  be  sbmm4*  and  curbed  ti&m  f&f  u*& 


TOBASURB  ISfeA?*^ 

Poor  or  five  of  them  obeyed  at  once,  two  t&mfi&ng 
•a  the  road  with  the  formidable  beggar.  There  was 
a  pause,  then  a  cry  of  surprise,  and  then  a  voice  shout- 
ing from  the  house: 

"Bill's  dead." 

But  the  blind  man  swore  at  them  again  for  thefr 
delay. 

"Search  him,  some  of  you  shirking  lubbers,  and  the 
rest  of  you  aloft  and  get  the  chest/'  he  cried. 

I  could  hear  their  feet  rattling  up  our  old  stairs, 
so  that  the  house  must  have  shook  with  it  Promptly 
afterward,  fresh  sounds  of  astonishment  arose;  the 
window  of  the  captain's  room  was  thrown  open  with 
a  slam  and  a  jingle  of  broken  glass;  and  a  man  leaned 
out  into  the  moonlight,  head  and  shoulders,  and  ad- 
dressed the  blind  beggar  on  the  road  below  him. 

"Pew,"  he  cried,  "they've  been  before  u& 
sne's  turned  the  chest  out  alow  and  aloft* 

"Is  it  there?"  roared  Pew. 

"The  money's  there." 

The  blind  man  cursed  the  money. 

"Flint's  fist,  I  mean,"  he  cried. 

"We  don't  see  it  here  nohow,"  returned  th« 

"Here,  you  below  here,  is  it  on  Bilir  cried  tba  bii&i 
man  again. 

At  that  another  fellow,  probably  him  wlw  had  re- 
mained below  to  search  the  captain's  body,  came  to 
the  door  of  the  inn.  "Bill's  been  overhauled  already  " 
aaid  he,  "nothin'  left" 

"It's  these  people  of  the  inn— it's  that  boy.  I  wish 
I  had  put  his  eyes  out !"  cried  the  blind  man,  Pew. 
"They,  were  here  no  time  ago — they  had  the  door 
bolted  when  I  tried  it    Scatter,  lads,  and  find  'em." 

"Sure  enough,  they  left  their  glim  here,"  said  the 
fellow  from  the  window. 

"Scatter  and  find  'em!  Rout  the  house  out!"  reitST* 
ated  Pew,  striking  with  his  stick  upon  the  road. 


3$  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

Then  there  followed  a  great  to-do  througa  all  oof 
old  ton,  heavy  feet  pounding  to  and  fro,  furniture  all 
thrown  over,  doors  kicked  in,  until  the  very  rocks  re- 
echoed,  and  the  men  came  out  again,  one  after  an* 
other,  on  the  road,  and  declared  that  we  were  no- 
where to  he  found.  And  just  then  the  same  whistle 
that  had  alarmed  my  mother  and  myself  over  the 
dead  captain's  money  was  once  more  clearly  audible 
through  the  night,  but  this  time  twice  repeated.  I 
had  thought  it  to  be  the  blind  man's  trumpet,  so  to 
speak,  summoning  his  crew  to  the  assault;  but  I  now 
found  that  it  was  a  signal  from  the  hill-side  toward 
the  hamlet,  and  from  its  effect  upon  the  buccaneers, 
a  signal  to  warn  them  of  approaching  danger. 

"There's  Dirk  again,"  said  one.  "Twice !  Well 
have  to  budge,  mates." 

"Budge,  you  skulk  !"  cried  Pew.  "Dirk  was  a  fool 
and  a  coward  from  the  first— you  wouldn't  mind  him. 
They  must  be  close  by;  they  can't  be  far;  you  have 
your  hands  en  it  Scatter  and  look  for  them,  dogs. 
Oh,  shiver  my  soul,"  he  cried,  "if  I  had  eyes  !" 

This  appeal  seemed  to  produce  some  effect,  for  two 
Of  the  fellows  began  to  look  here  and  there  among  the 
lumber,  but  half  heartedly,  I  thought,  and  with  half 
an  eye  to  their  own  danger  all  the  time,  while  the 
rest  stood  irresolute  on  the  road. 

"Yon  have  your  hands  on  thousands,  you  fools,  and 
you  hang  a  leg  !  You'd  be  as  rich  as  kings  if  you 
eould  find  it,  and  you  know  it's  here,  and  you  stand 
there  malingering.  There  wasn't  one  of  you  who  dared 
faee  Bill,  and  I  did  it — a  blind  man  !  And  I'm  to  lose 
my  chance  for  you  !  I'm  to  be  a  poor,  crawling  beg- 
gar, sponging  for  cum,  when  I  might  be  rolling  in  a 
coach  !  If  you  had  the  pluck  of  a  weevil  in  a  biscuit, 
you  would  catch  them  still." 

*<Maag  ft,  Pew,  we've  got  the  doubloons  !"  grumble* 
one. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  S3 

Ther  might  have  hid  the  blessed  thing/*  said  an- 
other, "fake  the  Georges,  Pew,  and  don't  stand  here 
squalling.'* 

Squalling  was  the  word  for  it,  Pew's  anger  rose  so 
high  at  these  objections;  till  at  last,  his  passion  com- 
pletely taking  the  upper  hand,  he  struck  at  them 
right  and  left  in  his  blindness  and  his  stick  sounded 
heavily  on  more  than  one. 

These,  in  their  turn,  cursed  back  at  the  blind  mis- 
creant,  threatened  him  in  horrid  terms,  and  tried  ia 
train  to  catch  the  stick  and  wrest  it  from  his  grasp. 

This  quarrel  was  the  saving  of  us;  for  while  it  was 
still  raging,  another  sound  came  from  the  top  of  the 
hill  on  the  side  of  the  hamlet — the  tramp  of  horses 
galloping.  Almost  at  the  same  time  a  pistol-shot, 
flash  and  report,  came  from  the  hedge  side.  And  that 
was  plainly  the  last  signal  of  danger;  for  the  buccan- 
eers turned  at  once  and  ran,  separating  in  every  direc- 
tion, one  seaward  along  the  cove,  one  slant  across 
the  hill,  and  so  on,  so  that  in  half  a  minute  not  a  sign 
of  them  remained  but  Pew.  Him  they  had  deserted, 
whether  in  sheer  panic  or  out  of  revenge  for  his  ill 
words  and  blows,  I  know, not;  but  there  he  remained 
behind,  tapping  up  and  down  the  road  in  a  frenzy, 
and  groping  and  calling  for  his  comrades.  Finally 
he  took  the  wrong  turn,  and  ran  a  few  steps  past  me, 
toward  the  hamlet,  crying: 

"Johnny,  Black  Dog,  Dirk,"  and  other  names5  "you 
won't  leave  old  Pew,  mates — not  old  Pew  V 

Just  then  the  noise  of  horses  topped  the  rise,  ami 
four  or  five;  riders  came  in  sight  in  the  moonlight,  and 
swept  at  full  gallop  down  the  slope. 

M  this  Pew  saw  his  error,  turned  with  a  scream,  and 
»an  straight  for  the  ditch,  intojwhich  he  relied.  But 
be  was  on  his  feet  again  in  a  second,  and  made  another 


S8  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

dash,  now  utterly  bewildered,  right  under  the  nearest 

of  the  coming  horses. 

The  rider  tried  to  save  him,  but  in  vain.  Down  went 
Pew  with  a  cry  that  rang  high  into  the  night;  and  the 
four  hoofs  trampled  and  spurned  him  and  passed  by. 
He  fell  on  his  side,  then  gently  collapsed  upon  his 
face,  and  moved  no  more. 

I  leaped  to  my  feet  and  hailed  the  riders.  They 
were  pulling  up,  at  any  rate,  horrified  at  the  accident; 
and  I  soon  saw  what  they  were.  One,  tailing  out  be- 
hind the  rest,,  was  a  lad  that  had  gone  from  the  ham- 
let to  Dr.  Livesey's;  the  rest  were  revenue  officers, 
whom  he  had  met  by  the  way,  and  with  whom  he  had) 
had  the»  intelligence  to  return  at  once.  Some  news 
of  the  lugger  in  Kitt's  Hole  had  found  its  way  to  Su- 
pervisor Dance,  and  sent  him  forth  that  night  in  our 
direction,  and  to  that  circumstance  my  mother  and  I 
owed  our  preservation  from  death. 

Pew  was  dead,  stone  dead.  As  for  my  mother,  when 
we  had  carried  her  up  to  the  hamlet,  a  little  cold  water 
and  salts  very  soon  brought  her  back  again,  and  she 
was  none  the  worse  for  her  terror,  though  she  still 
continued  to  deplore  the  balance  of  the  money. 

In  the  meantime  the  supervisor  rode  on,  as  fast  as 
he  could,  to  Kitt's  Hole;  but  his  men  had  to  dismount 
and  grope  down  the  dingle,  leading,  and  sometimes 
supporting,  their  horses,  and  in  continual  fear  of  am- 
bushes; so  it  was  no  great  matter  for  surprise  that 
when  we  got  down  to  the  Hole  the  lugger  was  already 
under  way,  though  still  close  in.  He  hailed  her.  A 
voice  replied,  telling  him  to  keep  out  of  the  moon* 
light,  or  he  would  get  some  lead  in  him,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  bullet  whistled  close  by  his  arm.  Soon 
after,  the  lugger  doubled  the  point  and  disappeared. 
Mr.-  Dance  stood  there,  as  he  said,  "like  a  fish  out  of 
water,"  and  all  he  could  do  was  to  dispatch  a  man 
to  D        to  warn  the  cutter-   "And  that,"  said  he,  "i» 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  3* 

Just  about  as  good  as  nothing.  They've  got  off  dean, 
and  there's  an  end.  Only/'  he  added,  "I'm  glad  I 
trod  on  Master  Pew's  corns;"  for  by  this  time  he  had 
heard  my  story. 

I  went  back  witli  him  to  the  Admiral  Benbow,  and 
you  cannot  imagine  a  house  in  such  a  state  of  smash; 
the  very  cloek  had  been  thrown  down  by  these  fellows 
in  their  furious  hunt  after  my  mother  and  myself;  and 
though  nothing  had  actually  been  taken  away  except 
the  captain's  money-bag  and  a  little  silver  from  the 
till,  I  could  see  at  once  that  we  were  ruined.  Mr. 
Dance  could  make  nothing  of  the  scene. 

"They  got  the  money,  you  say?  Well,  then,  Haw* 
kins,  what  in  fortune  were  they  after?  More  money, 
I  suppose?" 

"No,  sir;  not  money,  I  think,"  replied  I.  "In  fact, 
sir,  I  believe  I  have  the  thing  in  my  breast  pocket; 
and,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  should  like  to  get  it  put 
in  safety." 

"To  be  sure,  boy;  quite  right,"  said  he.   "I'll  take  it, 
if  you  like." 
"I  thought,  perhaps,  Dr.  Livesey— "  I  began. 

"Perfectly  right,"  he  interrupted,  very  cheerily, 
"perfectly  right— a  gentleman  and  a  magistrate.  And, 
now  I  come  to  think  of  it,  I  might  as  well  ride  round 
there  myself  and  report  to  him  or  squire.  Master 
Pew's  dead,  when  all's  done;  not  that  I  regret  it,  but 
he's  dead,  you  see,  and  people  will  make  it  out  against 
an  officer  of  his  majesty's  revenue,  if  make  it  out  they 
can.  Now,  I'll  tell  you,  Hawkins,  if  you  like,  I'H  take 
you  alon§." 

I  thanked  him  heartily  for  the  offer,  and  we  walked 
back  to  the  hamlet  where  the  horses  were.  By  the 
time  I  had  told  mother  of  my  purpose  they  were  all 
in  the  saddle. 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND 

"DoggsT,1*  said  Mr.  Dance,  "you  have  a  good  horafe: 
take  up  this  lad  behind  you." 

As  soon  as  I  was  mounted,  holding  on  to  Dogger's 
belt,  the  s4pervisor  gave  the  word*   and   the   party 
struck  out  at  a  bouncing  trot  on  the  road  to  Dr.  Liv 
sey's  house 


SREASUBE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE  CAPTAIN'S   PAPEBa 

We  rode  hard  all  the  way,  till  we  drew  up  before  DP. 
tivesey's  door.    The  house  was  all  dark  in  front 

Mr.  Dance  told  me  to  jump  down  and  knock,  and 
Dogger  gave  me  a  stirrup  to  descend  by*  The  door 
.  was  opened  almost  at  once  by  the  maid. 

"Is  Dr.  Livesey  in?"  I  asked. 

No,  she  said;  he  had  come  home  in  the  afternoon, 
but  had  gone  up  to  the  Hall  to  dine  and  pass  the 
evening  with  the  squire. 

"So  there  we  go,  boysf"  said  Mr.  Dance, 

This  time,  as  the  distance  was  short,  I  did  not 
mount,  but  ran  with  Dogger's  stirrup-leather  to  the 
iodge  gates,  and  up  the  long  leafless,  moonlit  avenue 
to  where  the  white  line  of  the  Hall  buildings  looked 
on  either  hand  on  great  old  gardens.  Here  Mr.  Dance 
dismounted,  and,  taking  me  along  with  him,  was  ad- 
mitted at  a  word  intothe  house. 

The  servant  led  us  down  a  matted  passage,  and 
showed  us  at  the  end  into  a  great  library*  all  lined 
with  bookcases  and  busts  upon  the  top  of  them,  where 
the  squire  and  Dr.  Livesey  sat,  pipe  in  hand,  on  either 
side  of  the  bright  fire. 

I  had  never  seen  the  squire  so  near  at  hand.  He 
was  a  tall  man,  over  six  feet  high,  and  broad  in  pro* 
portion,  and  he  had  a  bluff,  rough-and-ready  face,  all 


42  TREASURE!  ISLAND. 

rougheneu  and  reddened  and  lined  in  his  long  travel* 
His  eyebrows  were  very  black,  and  moved  readily,  and 
this  gave  him  a  look  of  some  temper,  not  bad,  you 
would  say,  but  quick  and  high. 

"Come  in,  Mr.  Dance,"  says  he,  very  stately  and 
condescending. 

"Good  evening,  Dance,"  says  the  doctor,  with  a  nod. 
"And  good  evening  to  you,  friend  Jim.  What  good 
wind  brings  you  here?" 

The  supervisor  stood  up  straight  and  stiff,  and  told 
bis  story  like  a  lesson;  and  you  should  have  seen  how 
the  two  gentlemen  leaned  forward  and  looked  at  each 
other^nd  forgot  to  smoke  in  their  surprise  and  inter- 
est. When  they  heard  how  my  mother  went  back  to 
the  inn,  Dr.  Livesey  fairly  slapped  his  thigh,  and  the 
squire  cried  "Bravo!"  and  broke  his  long  pipe 
against  the  grate.  Long  before  it  was  done,  Mr.  Tre- 
lawney  (that,  you  will  remember,  was  the  squire's 
name)  had  got  up  from  his  seat,  and  was  striding 
about  the  room,  and  the  doctor,  as  if  to  hear  the  bet- 
ter, had  taken  off  his  powdered  wig,  and  sat  there, 
looking  very  strange  indeed  with  his  own  close- 
cropped,  black  poll. 

At  last  Mr.  Dance  finished  the  story. 

"Mr.  Dance,"  said  the  squire,  "you  are  a  very  noble 
fellow.  And  as  for  riding  down  that  black,  atrocious 
miscreant,  I  regard  it  as  an  act  of  virtue,  sir,  like 
Stamping  on  a  cockroach.  This  lad  Hawkins  is  a 
trump,  I  perceive.  Hawkins,  will  you  ring  that  bell? 
Mr.  Dance  must  have  some  ale." 

"And  so,  Jim,"  said  the  doctor,  "you  have  the  thing 
that  they  were  after,  have  you?" 

"Here  it  is,  sir,"  said  I,  and  gave  him  the  oilskin 
packet* 

The  doctor  looked  it  all  over,  as  if  his  fingers  were 
Itching  to  open  it;  but,  instead  of  doing  that,  he  {Nit 
ft  Quietly  in  the  pocket  of  his  coat. 


TREASURE  ISLAND  & 

•Squire,**  said  he,  "when  Dance  has  had  his  ale  b* 
Ernst,  of  course,  be  off  on  his  majesty's  service;  but  t 
mean  to  keep  Jim  Hawkins  here  to  sleep  at  my  house, 
and,  with  your  permission,  I  propose  we  should  have 
Dp  the  cold  pie,  and  let  him  sup." 

••As  you  will,  Livesey,"  said  the  squire;  "Hawkins 
has  earned  better  than  cold  pie." 

So  a  big  pigeon  pie  was  brought  in  and  put  on  a 
side-table,  and  I  made  a  hearty  supper,  for  I  was  as 
hungry  as  a  hawk,  while  Mr.  Dance  was  further  conr 
plimented,  and  at  last  dismissed. 

"And  now,  squire,"  said  the  doctor. 

•'And,  now,  Livesey,"  said  the  squire,  in  the  same 
breath. 

"One  at  a  time,  on«*  at  a  time,"  laughed  Dr.  Livesey, 
"You  havet  heard  of  this  Flint,  I  suppose?" 

"Heard  of  him  !"  cried  the  squire.  "Heard  of  him, 
you  say  !  He  was  the  blood-thirstiest  buccaneer  that 
sailed.  Blackbeard  was  a  child  to  Flint,  The  Span- 
iards were  so  prodigiously  afraid  of  him,  that,  I  tell 
you,  sir,  I  was  sometimes  proud  he  was  an  English- 
man. I've  seen  his  topsails  with  these  eyes,  off  Trin- 
idad, and  the  cowardly  son  of  a  rum-puncheon  that  I 
sailed  with  put  back — put  back,  sir,  Into  Port  of 
Spain." 

"Well,  I've  heard  of  him  myself,  in  England,"  said 
the  doctor.    "But  the  point  is,  had  he  money?" 

"Money  !"  cried  the  squire.  "Have  you  heard  the 
story?  What  were  these  villains  after  but  money? 
What  do  they  care  for  but  money?  For  what  would 
they  risk  their  rascal  carcasses  but  money?" 

"Thatwe/shall  soon  know,"  replied  the  doctor.  "But 
you  are  so  confoundedly  hot-headed  and  exclamatory 
that  I  cannot  get  a  word  in.  What  I  want  to  know 
is  this:  Supposing  that  I  hate  here  in  my  pocket  some 
clew  to  where  Flint  buried  Ms  treasure,  will  that 
treasure  amount  to  much?" 


«»ft  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"Amtraw*,  sir  V  cried  the  squire.  "It  will  amou~v  to 
ttiis^  If  we  kave  the  elew  you  talk  about,  I  fit  out  a 
ship  in  Bristol  dock,  andj&ke  you  and  Hawking  here 
along,  and  I'll  have  that  treasure  if  I  search  a  year." 

"Very  well,"  said  the  doctor.  "Now,  then,  if  Jim 
Is  agreeable,  we'll  open  the  packet;"  and  he  laid  it 
before  him  on  the  table. 

The  bundle  was  sewn  together,  and  the  doctor  had 
to  get  out  his  instrument  case,  and  cut  the  stitche* 
with  his  medical  scissors.  It  contained  two  things— 
a  book  and  a  sealed  paper. 

"First  of  all  we'll  try  the  book,"  observed  the  doc 
tor. 

The  squire  and  I  were  both  peering  over  his  shoul» 
der  as  he  opened  it,  tor  Dr.  Livesey  had  kindly  mo- 
tioned me  to  come  round  from  the  side  table,  where  I 
had  been  eating,  to  enjoy  the  sport  of  the  search.  On 
the  first  page  there  were  only  some  scraps  of  writing* 
such  as  a  man  with  a  pen  in  his  hand  might  take  for 
idleness  or  practice.  One  was  the  same  as  the  tattoo 
mark,  "Billy  Bones  his  fancy;"  then  there  was  "Mr. 
W.  Bones,  mate."  "No  more  rum."  "Off  Palm  Key  he 
got  itt;"  and-some  other  snatches,  mostly  single  words 
and  unintelligible.  I  could  not  help  wondering  who 
it  was  that  had  "got  itt,"  and  what  "itt"  was  that  he 
got.    A  knife  in  his  back  as  like  as  not. 

"Not  much  instruction  there,"  said  Dr.  Livesey,  as 
he  passed  on. 

The  next  ten  or  twelve  pages  were  filled  with  a  curi- 
ous series  of  entries.  There  was  a  date  at  one  end 
of  the  line  and  at  the  other  a  sum  of  money,  as  in 
common  account  books;  but  instead  of  explanatory 
writing,  only  a  varying  number  of  crosses  between 
the  two.  On  the  12th  of  June,  1745,  for  instance,  a 
sum  of  seventy  pounds  had  plainly  become  due  to 
some  one,  and  there  was  nothing  but  six  crosses  to 
explain  the  cause.    In  a  few  cases,  to  be  sure,  the 


TREASURE  ISLAND.      $  45 

name  of  a  place  would  be  added,  as  "Offe  Oa?accas;w 
or  a  mere  entry  of  latitude  and  longitude,  as  "62  deg. 
17  min.  20  see.,  19  deg.  2  min.  40  sec." 

The  record  lasted  over  nearly  twenty  years,  the 
amount  of  the  seperate  entries  growing  larger  as  time 
went  on,  and  at  the  end  a  grand  total  had  been  made 
out  after  five  or  six  wrong  additions,  and  these  words 
appended,  "Bones  his  pile." 

"I  can't  mako.head  or  tail  of  this,"  said  Dr.  Livesey. 

"The  thing  is  as  clear  as  noonday,"  cried  the  squire. 
"This  is  the  black-hearted  hound's  account  book. 
These  crosses  stand  for  the  names  of  ships  or  towns 
that  they  sunk  or  plundered.  The  sums  are  the 
scoundrel's  share,  and  where  he  feared  an  ambiguity, 
you  see  he  added  something  clearer.  'Offe  Caraccas,' 
now;  you  see,  here  was  some  unhappy  vessel  boarded 
off  that  coast.  God  help  the  poor  souls  that  manned 
her— coral  long  ago." 

"Right !"  said  the  doctor.  "See  what  it  is  to  be  a 
traveler.  Right !  And  the  amounts  increase,  you  see, 
as  he  rose  in  rank." 

There  was  little  else  in  the  volume  but  a  few  bear- 
ings of  places  noted  in  the  blank  leaves  toward  the 
end,  and  a  table  for  reducing  French,  English,  and 
Spanish  moneys  to  a  common  value. 

"Thrifty  man  !"  cried  the  doctor.  "He  wasn't  the 
one  to  be  cheated." 

"And  now,"  said  the  squire,  "for  the  other." 

The  paper  had  been  sealed  in  several  places  with  a 
thimble  by  way  of  seal;  the  very  thimble,  perhaps, 
that  I  had  found  in  the  captain?s  pocket.  The  doctor 
opened  the  seals  with  great  care,  and  there  fell  out  the 
map  of  an  island,  with  latitude,  and  longitude,  sound- 
ings, names  of  hills  and  bays  and  inlets,  and  every 
particular  that  would  be  needed  to  bring  a  ship  to  a 
safe  anchorage  upon  its  shores.  It  was  about  nine 
miles  long,  and  five  across,  shaped,  you  might  say. 


46  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

like  a  fat  dragon  standing  up,  and  had  two  fine  land- 
locked harbors,  and  a  hill  in  the  center  part  marked 
"The  Spy-Glass."  There  were  several  additions  of  a 
later  date,  but,  above  all,  three  crosses  of  red  ink — 
two  on  the  north  part  of  the  island,  one  in  the  south- 
west, and,  beside  this  last,  in  the  same  red  ink,  and  in 
a  small,  neat  hand,  very  different  from  the  captain's 
tottery  characters,  these  words:  "Bulk  of  treasure 
here." 

Over  on  the  back  the  same  hand  had  written  this 
further  information: 

"Tall  tree,  Spy-glass  shoulder,  bearing  a  point  to 
the  N.  of  N.  N.  E. 

"Skeleton  Island  E.  S.  E.  and  by  E. 

"Ten  feet. 

"The  bar  silver  is  in  the  north  cache;  you  can  find 
it  by  the  trend  of  the  east  hummock,  ten  fathoms 
south  of  the  black  crag  with  the  face  on  it. 

"The  arms  are  easy  found,  in  the  sand-hill,  N.  point 
of  north  inlet  cape,  bearing  E.  and  a  quarter  N. 

"J.  F." 

That  was  all ;  but  brief  as  it  was,  and,  to  me,  incom- 
prehensible, it  filled  the  squire  and  Dr.  Livesey  with 
delight. 

"Livesey,"  said  the  squire,  "you  will  give  up  this 
wretched  practice  at  once.  To-morrow  I  start  for 
Bristol.  In  three  weeks'  time — three  weeks  ! — two 
weeks — ten  days — we'll  have  the  best  ship,  sir,  and  the 
choicest  crew  in  England.  Hawkins  shall  come  as 
cabin-boy.  You'll^  make  a  famous  cabin-boy,  Haw- 
kins. You,  Livesey,  are  ship's  doctor;  I  am  admiral. 
We'll  take  Redruth,  Joyce,  and  Hunter.  We'll  have 
favorable  winds,  and  a  quick  passage,  and  not  the 
least  difficulty  in  finding  the  spot,  and  money  to  eat — 
to  roll  in — to  play  duck  and  drake  with  ever  after." 

"Trelawney,"  said  the  doctor,  "I'll  go  with  you;  and 
111  go  bail  for  it,  so  will  Jim,  and  be  a  credit  to  the 
undertaking.    There's  only  one  man  I'm  afraid  of." 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  47 

"And  "who  is  that?"  cried  the  squire.  "Name  the 
flog,  sir  r 

"You,"  replied  the  doctor;  "for  you  cannot  hold 
your  tongue.  "We  are  not  the  only  men  who  know  of 
this  paper.  These  fellows  who  attacked  the  inn  to- 
night— bold,  desperate  blades,  for  sure— and  the  rest 
who  stayed  aboard  that  lugger,  and  more,  I  dare  say, 
not  far  off,  are,  one  and  all,  through  thick  and  thin, 
bound  that  they'll  get  that  money.  We  must  none  of 
us  go  alone  till  we  get  to  sea.  Jim  and  I  shall  stick 
together  in  the  meanwhile;  you'll  take  Joyce  and  Hun~ 
ter  when  you  ride  to  Bristol,  and,  from  first  to  last, 
not  one  of  us  must  breathe  a  word  of  what  we've 
found." 

"Livesey,"  returned  the  squire,  "you  are  always  in 
the  right  of  it.   Til  be  as  silent  as  the  grave*" 


PART  ». 
THE  SEA-COOK. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

I    GO    TO    BRISTOL. 

It  was  longer  than  the  squire  imagined  ere  we  were 
ready  for  the  sea,  and  none  of  our  first  plans — not  even 
Dr.  Livesey's,  of  keeping  me  beside  him — could  be 
carried  out  as  we  intended.  The  doctor  had  to  go  to 
London  for  a  physician  to  take  charge  of  his  practice ; 
the  squire  was  hard  at  work  at  Bristol;  and  I  lived 
on  at  the  Hall, under  the  charge  of  old  Redruth,  the 
gamekeeper,  almost  a  prisoner  but  full  of  sea  dreams 
and  the  most  charming  anticipations  of  strange 
islands  and  adventures.  I  brooded  by  the  hour  to- 
gether over  the  map,  all  the  details  of  which  I  well 
remembered.  Sitting  by  the  fire  in  the  housekeeper's 
room,  I  approached  that  island  in  my  fancy,  from 
every  possible  direction;  I  explored  every  acre  of  its 
surface;  I  climbed  a  thousand  times  to  that  tall  hill 
they  call  the  Spy-glass,  and  from  the  top  enjoyed  the 
most  wonderful  and  changing  prospects.  Sometimes 
the  isle  was  thick  with  savages,  with  whom  we  fought; 
sometimes  full  of  dangerous  animals  that  hunted  us; 
but  in  all  my  fancies  nothing  occurred  to  me  so  strange 
and  tragic  as  our  actual  adventures. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  49 

Sq  the  weeks  passed  on,  till  one  fine  day  there  came 
a  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  Livesey,  with  this  addition, 
"To  be  opened  in  the  case  of  his  absence,  by  Tom  Red- 
ruth, or  young  Hawkins."  Obeying  this  order,  we 
found,  or  rather,  I  found — for  the  gamekeeper  was  a 
poor"  hand  at  reading  anything  but  print— the  follow- 
ing important  news: 

"Old  Anchor  Inn,  Bristol,  March  1,  17—. 

"Dear  Livesey, — As  I  do  not  know  whether  you  are 
at  the  Hall  or  still  in  London,  I  send  this  in  double  to 
both  places. 

"The  ship  is  bought  and  fitted.  She  lies  at  anchor, 
ready  for  sea.  You  never  imagined  a  sweeter  schooner 
— a  child  might  sail  her — two  hundred  tons;  name 
'Hispaniola.' 

"I  got  her  through  my  old  friend,  Blandly,  who  jjas 
proved  himself  throughout  the  most  surprising  trump. 
The  admirable  fellow  literally  slaved  in  my  interest, 
and  so,  I  may  say,  did  every  one  in  Bristol,  as  soon  as 
they  got  wind  of  the  port  we  sailed  for — treasure,  I 
mean." 

"Redruth,"  said  I,  interrupting  the  letter,  "Dr. 
Livesey  will  not  like  that.  The  squire  has  been  talk- 
ing, after  all." 

"Well,  who's  got  a  better  right?"  growled  the  game- 
keeper. "A  pretty  rum  go  if  squire  ain't  to  talk  for 
Dr.  Livesey,  I  should  think." 

At  that  I  gave  up  all  attempt  at  commentary,  and 
read  straight  on: 

"Blandly  himself  found  the  'Hispaniola,'  and  by  tha 
most  admirable  management  got  her  for  the  merest 
trifle.  There  is  a  class  of  men  in  Bristol  monstrously 
prejudiced  against  Blandly.  They  go  the  length  of 
declaring  that  this  honest  creature  would  do  anything 
for  money,  that  the  'Hispaniola'  belonged  to  him  and 
that  he  sold  it  me  absurdly  high — the  most  trans- 
parent calumnies.  None  of  them  dare,  however,  to 
deny  the  raerits  of  the  ship. 


60  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"So  far  there  was  not  a  hitch.  The  workpeople  to 
be  sure — riggers  and  what  not — were  most  annoyingly 
slow;  but  time  cured  that.  It  was  the  crew  that 
troubled  me. 

"I  wished  a  round  score  of  men — in  case  of  natives, 
buccaneers,  or  the  odious  French — and  I  had  the  worry 
of  the  deuce  itself  to  find  so  much  as  half  a  dozen,  till 
the  most  remarkable  stroke  of  fortune  brought  me  the 
yery  man  that  I  required. 

"I  was  standing  on  the  dock,  when,  by  the  merest 
accident,  I  fell  in  talk  with  him.  I  found  he  was  an 
old  sailor,  kept  a  public-house,  knew  all  the  seafaring 
men  in  Bristol,  had  lost  his  health  ashore,  and  wanted 
a  good  berth  as  cook  to  get  to  sea  again.  He  had  hob- 
bled down  there  that  morning,  he  sai3,  to  get  a  smelt 
of  the  salt. 

"I  was  monstrously  touched — so  would  you  have 
been — and,  out  of  pure  pity,  I  engaged  him  on  the 
spot  to  be  ship's  cook.  Long  John  Silver,  he  is  called, 
and  has  lost  a  leg;  but  that  I  regarded  as  a  recom- 
mendation, since  he  lost  it  in  his  country's  service, 
under  the  immortal  Hawke.  He  has  no  pensioE, 
Livesey.    Imagine  the  abominable  age  we  live  in! 

"Well,  sir,  I  thought  I  had  only  found  a  cook,  but 
it  was  a  crew  I  had  discovered.  Between  Silver  and 
myself  we  got  together  in  a  few  days  a  company  of 
the  toughest  old  salts  imaginable — not  pretty  to  look 
$x,  but  fellows,  by  their  faces,  of  the  most  indomitable 
spirit.    I  declare  we  could  fight  a  frigate. 

*%ong  John  even  got  rid  of  two  out  of  the  six  or 
seven  I  Iiad  already  engaged.  He  showed  me  in  a 
moment  that  they  were  just  the  sort  of  fresh-water 
iwabs  we  had  to  fear  in  an  adventure  of  importance. 

"2  am  in  the  most  magnificent  health  and  spirits, 
eating  like  a  bull,  sleepinglike  a  tree,  yet  I  shall  not 
enjoy  a  moment  till  I  hear  my  old  tarpaulins  tramping 
round  the  capstan.  Seaward  ho!  Hang  the  treasure! 
It's  the  glory  of  the  sea  that  has  turned  my  head.  So 
now,  Livesey,  come  post;  do  not  lose  an  hour,  if  yoo 
respect  ma 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  5$ 

"Let  young  Hawkins  go  at  once  to  see  his  mother, 
ivith  RedTuth  for  a  guard;  and  then  both  come  full 
speed  to  Bristol.  JOHN  TRELAWNEY. 

"P.  S. — I  did  not  tell  you  that  Blandly,  who,  by  the 
way,  is  to  send  a  consort  after  us  if  we  don't  turn  up 
by  the  end  of  August,  and  found  an  admirable  fellow 
for  sailing-master — a  stiff  man,  which  I  regret,  but, 
in  all  other  respects,  a  treasure.  Long  John  Silver 
unearthed  a  .very  competent  man  for  a  mate,  a  man 
named  Arrow.  I  have  a  boatswain  who  pipes,  Livesey; 
so  things  shall  go  man-o'-war  fashion  on  board  the 
good  ship  'Hispaniola.' 

"I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Silver  is  a  man  of  sub- 
stance; I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  he  has  a 
banker's  account,  which  has  never  been  overdrawn. 
He  leaves  his  wife  to  manage  the  inn;  and  as  she  is  a 
woman  of  color,  a  pair  of  old  bachelors  like  you  and  I 
may  be  excused  for  guessing  that  it  is  the  wife,  quite 
as  much  as  the  health,  that  sends  him  back  to  roving. 

"J.  T. 

"P.P.S. — Hawkins  may  stay  one  night  with  his 
mother.  J.  T." 

You  can  fancy  the  excitement  into  which  that  letter 
put  me.  I  was  half  beside  myself  with  glee;  and  if 
ever  I  despised  a  man,  it  was  old  Tom  Redruth,  who 
could  do  nothing  but  grumble  and  lament.  Any  of 
the  under-gamekeepers  would  gladly  have  changed 
places  with  him;  but  such  was  not  the  squire's  pleas- 
ure, and  the  squire's  pleasure  was  like  law  among 
them  all.  Nobody  but  old  Redruth  would  have  dared 
so  much  as  even  to  grumble. 

The  next  morning  he  and  I  set  out  on  foot  for  the 
Admiral  Benbow,  and  there  I  found  my  mother  in 
good  health  and  spirits.  The  captain,  who  had  so  long 
been  a  cause  of  so  much  discomfort,  was  gone  where 
the  wicked  cease  from  troubling.  The  squire  had  had 
everything  repaired,  and  the  public  rooms  and  the 
sign  repainted,  and  had  added  some  furniture— above 
all  a  beautiful  armchair  for  mother  in  the  bar.    He 


£2  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

had  found  her  a  boy  as  an  apprentice  also,  so  that  sh« 
should  not  want  help  while  I  was  gone. 

It  was  on  seeing  that  boy  that  I  understood,  for  the 
first  time,  my  situation.  I  had  thought  up  lo  that 
moment  of  the  adventures  before  me,  not  at  all  of  the 
home  that  I  was  leaving;  and  now  at  sight  of  this 
clumsy  stranger,  who  was  to  stay  here  in  my  place 
beside  my  mother,  I  had  my  first  attack  of  tears.  I 
am  afraid  I  led  that  boy  a  dog's  life;  for  as  he  was 
new  to  the  work,  I  had  a  hundred  opportunities  of  set- 
ting him  right  and  putting  him  down,  and  I  was  no* 
slow  to  profit  by  them. 

The  night  passed,  and  the  next  day,  after  dinner, 
Redruth  and  I  were  afoot  again  and  en  the  road.  I 
said  good-bye  to  mother  and  the  cove  where  I  had 
lived  since  I  was  born,  and  the  dear  old  Admiral  Ben- 
tow — since  he  was  repainted,  no  longer  quite  so  dear. 
One  of  my  last  thoughts  was  of  the  captain,  who  had 
so  often  strode  along  the  beach  with  his  cocked  hat, 
his  saber-cut  cheek,  and  his  old  brass  telescope.  Next 
moment  we  had  turned  the  corner,  and  tny  home  was 
out  o£  sight. 

The  mail  picked  us  up  about  dusk  at  the  Royal 
George  on  the  heath.  I  was  wedged  in  between  Red- 
ruth and  a  stout  old  gentleman,  and  in  spite  of  the 
swift  motion  and  the  cold  night  air,  I  must  have 
dozed  a  great  deal  from  the  very  first,  and  then  slept 
like  a  log  uphill  and  down  dale  through  stage  after 
stage;  for  when  I  was  awakened,  at  last,  it  was  by  a 
punch  in  the  ribs,  and  I  opened  my  eyes,  to  find  that 
we  were  standing  still  before  a  large  building  in  a 
city  street,  and  that  the  day  had  already  broken  a 
long  time. 

"Where  are  we?"  I  asked. 

"Bristol,"  said  Tom.    "Get  down." 

Mr.  Trelawney  had  taken  up  his  residence  at  an  inn 
far  down  the  docks,  to  superintend  the  work  upon  the 


TF*  >J*JRE  ISLAND.  1$ 

sd^ute  IT&iitGY  w^  had  now  to  walk,  and  our  way, 
*o  my  gr^an  delight,  lay  along  the  quays  and  beside 
the  great  multitude  of  ships  of  all  sizes  and  rigs  and 
nations.  In  one,  sailors  were  singing  at  their  work; 
in  another,  there  were  men  aloft,  high  over  my  head, 
hanging  to  threads  that  seemed  no  thicker  than  a 
spider's.  Though  I  had  lived  by  the  shore  all  my  life, 
I  seemed  never  to  have  been  near  the  sea  till  then. 
The  smell  ©f  tar  and  salt  was  something  new.  I  saw 
the  most  wonderful  figure-heads,  that  had  all  been  far 
over  the  ocean,  I  saw,  besides,  many  Old  sailors,  with 
rings  in  their  ears,  and  whiskers  curled  in  ringlets, 
and  tarry  pig-tails,  and  their  swaggering,  clumsy  sea- 
walk;  and  if  I  had  seen  as  many  kings  or  archbishops 
I  could  not  have  been  more  delighted. 

And  I  was  going  to  sea  myself;  to  sea  in  a  schooner, 
with  a  piping  boatswain,  and  pig-tailed  singing  sea- 
men; to  sea,  bound  for  an  unknown  island,  and  to 
seek  for  buried  treasure. 

While  I  was  still  in  this  delightful  dream,  we  same 
suddenly  in  front  of  a  large  inn,  and  met  Squire  Tre- 
lawney,  all  dressed  out  like  a  sea  officer,  in  stout  blue 
cloth,  coming  out  of  the  door  with  a  smile  on  his  face, 
and  a  capital  imitation  of  a  sailor's  walk. 

"Here  you  are,"  he  cried,  "and  the  doctor  came  last 
night  from  London.  Bravo — the  ship's  company  eon* 
plete!"^ 

"Oh,  sir,"  cried  I,  "when  do  we  sail?" 

"Sail  1"  says  he.   "We  sail  to-morrow." 


TREASURE  ISLANDS 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AT  THE  SIGN  OP  THE  SPY-GLASa 

When  I  had  4one  breakfasting,  the  squf  *  gave  me 
a  note  addressed  to  John  Silver,  at  the  Ugn  of  the 
Spy-glass,  and  told  me  I  should  easily  find  the  place 
by  following  the  line  of  the  docks,  and  keeping  a 
bright  look  out  for  a  little  tavern  with  a  large  brass 
telescope  for  a  sign.  I  set  off,  overjoyed  at  this  op- 
portunity to  see  some  more  of  the  ships  and  seamen* 
and  picked  my  way  among  a  great  crowd  of  people  and 
carts  and  bales,  for  the  dock  was  now  at  its  busiest, 
until  I  found  the  tavern  in  question. 

It  was  a  bright  enough  little  place  of  entertainment 
The  sign  was  newly  painted;  the  windows  had  neat 
red  curtains;  the  floor  was  cleanly  sanded.  There 
was  a  street  on  either  side,  and  an  open  door  on  both, 
which  made  the  large,  low  room  pretty  clear  to  see 
to,  in  spite  of  clouds  of  tobacco  smoke. 

The  customers  were  mostly  seafaring  men;  and 
they  talked  so  loudly  that  I  hung  at  the  door,  almost 
afraid  to  enter. 

As  I  was  waiting,  a  man  came  out  of  a  side  room, 
and  at  a  glance,  I  was  sure  he  must  be  Long  John. 
His  left  leg  was  cut  oft  close  by  the  hip,  and  under  the 
left  shoulder  be  carried  a  crutch,  which  he  managed 


TREASURE  ISLANIX  M 

frith  wonderful  dexterity,  hopping  about  ttpeo  It  ttfesi 
a  bird.  He  was  very  tall  and  strong,  with  a  face  at 
big  as  a  ham— plain  and  pale,  but  intelligent  and 
smiling.  Indeed,  he  seemed  in  the  most  cheerful  spir» 
its,  whistling  as  he  moved  about  among  the  tables. 
With  a  merry  word  or  a  slap  on  the  shoulder  tor  the 
more  favored  of  his  guests. 

Now,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  from-the  very  first  men* 
Cion  of  Long  John  in  Squire  Trelawney's  letter,  I  bad 
taken  a  fear  in  my  mind  that  he  might  prove  to  be 
the?  very  ene-legged  sailor  whom  I  had  watched  for  so 
long  at  the  old  Benbow.  But  one  look  at  the  man 
before  me  was  enough.  I  had  seen  the  captain,  and 
Black  Dog  and  the  blind  man  Pew,  and  I  thought  I 
knew  what  a  buccaneer  was  "  ike — a  very  different 
creature,  according  to  me,  from  this  clean  and  pleas* 
ant-tempered  landlord. 

I  plucked  up  courage  at  once  crossed  the  threshold* 
and  walked  right  up  to  the  man  where  he  stood 
propped  on  his  cruEch,  talking  to  a  customer. 

"Mr.  Silver,  sir?"  I  asked,  holding  out  the  note. 

"Yes,  my  lad,"  said  he;  "such  is  my  name,  to  be 
sure.  And  who  may  you  be?"  And  when  he  saw  the 
squire's  letter,  he  seemed  to  me  to  give  something 
almost  like  a  start. 

"Oh  !"  said  he,  quite  aloud,  and  offering  his  hand, 
"I  see.  You  are  our  new  cabin-boy;  pleased  I  am  Q 
see  you." 

And  he  took  my  hand  in  his  large  firm  grasp. 

Just  then  one  of  the  customers  at  the  far  side  rose 
suddenly  and  made  for  the  door.  It  was  close  by 
him,  and  he  was  out  in  the  street  in  a  moment.  But 
his  hurry  had  attracted  my  notice,  and  I  recognized 
him  at  a  glance.  It  was  the  tallow-faced  man,  want- 
ing two  fingers,  who  had  come  first  to  the  Admiral 
Benbow. 

"Oh,"  I  cried,  "stop  him  !  it's  Black  Dog  I" 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"J  don*t  care  two  coppers  who  he  is,**  cried  Sliver. 
*But  he  hasn't  paid  his  score.  Harry,  run  aad  catch 
him." 

One  of  the  others  who  was  nearest  the  door  leaped 
np  and  started  in  pursuit. 

"If  he  were  Admiral  Hawke  he  shall  pa?  his  score,'* 
cried  Silver;  and  then,  relinquishing  my  hand,  "who 
did  you  say  he  was?"  he  asked.    "Black  what?" 

"Dog,  sir,"  said  I.  "Has  Mr.  Trelawney  net  told  you 
of  the  buccaneers?   He  was  one  of  them." 

"So?"  cried  Silver.  "In  my  house !  Ben,  run  and 
help  Harry.  One  of  those  swabs,  was  he?  Was  that 
you  drinking  with  him,  Morgan?   Step  up;  here." 

The  man  whom  he  called  Morgan — an  old,  gray- 
haired,  mahogany-faced  sailor— came  forward  pretty 
sheepishly,  rolling  his  quid. 

"Now,  Morgan,"  said  Long  John,  very  sternly;  "you 
never  clapped  your  eyes  on  that  Black—Black  Dog 
before,  did  you,  now?" 

"Not  I,  sir,"  said  Morgan,  with  a  salute. 

**You  didn't  know  his  name,  did  you?" 

"No,  sir." 

"By  the  powers,  Tom  Morgan,  it's  as  good  for  you!" 
exclaimed  the  landlord.  "If  you  had  been  mixed  up 
with  the  like  of  that,  you  would  never  have  put  an- 
other foot  in  my  house,  you  may  lay  to  that  And 
what  was  he  saying  to  you?" 

"I  don't  rightly  know,  sir,"  answered  Morgan. 

"Do  you  call  that  a  head  on  your  shoulders,  or  a 
blessed  dead-eye?"  cried  Long  John.  "Bon't  rightly 
know,  don't  you?  Perhaps  yon  don't  happen  to  rightly 
know  who  you  was  speaking  to,  perhaps?  Come  now, 
what  was  he  jawing— v'yages,  cap'ns,  ships?  Pipe  up? 
What  was  it?" 

"We  was  a-talkin*  of  keel-hauling,"  answered  Mor- 
gan. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  57 

"Keel-hauling,  was  you?  and  a  mighty  suitable 
thing,  too,  and  you  may  lay  to  that.  Get  back  to  your 
place  for  a  lubber,  Tom." 

And  then,  as  Morgan  rolled  back  to  his  seat,  Silver 
added  to  me  in  a  confidential  whisper,  that  was  very 
flattering,  as  I  thought: 

"He's  quite  an  honest  man,  Tom  Morgan,  only  stu- 
pid. And  now,"  he  ran  on  again,  aloud,  "let's  see- 
Black  Dog?  No,  I  don't  know  the  name,  not  I.  Yet  I 
kind  of  think  I've — yes,  I've  seen  the  swab.  He  used 
to  come  here  with  a  blind  beggar,  he  used." 

"That  he  did,  you  may  be  sure,"  said  I.  "I  knew 
that  blind  man,  too.    His  name  was  Pew." 

"It  was  J"  eried  Silver,  now  quite  excited.  "Pew  ! 
That  were  his-  name  for  certain.  Ah,  he  looked  a 
shark,  he  did  !  If  we  run  down  this  Black  Dog,  now, 
there'll  be  news  for  Cap'n  Trelawney!  Ben's  a  good 
runner;  few  seamen  run  better  than  Ben.  He  should 
run  him  down,  hand  over  hand,  by  the  powers  !  He 
talked  o'  keel-hauling,  did  he?    I'll  keel-haul  him  !" 

All  the  time  he  was  jerking  out  these  phrases  he 
was  stumping  up  and  down  the  tavern  on  his  crutch, 
slapping  tables  with  his  hand,  and  giving  such  a  show 
of  excitement  as  would  have  convinced  an  Old  Bailey 
judge  or  a  Bow  Street  runner.  My  suspicions  had  been 
thoroughly  reawakened  on  finding  Black  Dog  at  the 
Spy-glass,  and  I  watched  the  cook  narrowly.  But  he 
was  too  deep,  and  too  ready,  and  too  clever  for  me, 
and  by  the  time  the  two  men  had  come  back  out  of 
breath,  and  confessed  that  they  had  lost  the  track  in 
a  crowd,  and  been  scolded  like  thieves,  I  would  have 
gone  bail  for  the  innocence  of  Long  John  Silver. 

"See  here,  now,  Hawkins,"  said  he,  "here's  a 
blessed  hard  thing  on  a  man  like  me  now,  ain't  it? 
There's  Cap'n  Trelawney — what's  he  to  think?  Here 
I  have  this  confounded  son  of  a  Dutchman  sitting  in 
my  own  house,  drinking  of  my  own  rum  !    Here  yott 


58  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

cornea  and  tells  me  of  it  plain;  and  here  I  let  him  give 
us  all  the  slip  before  my  blessed  dead-lights  !  Now, 
Hawkins,  you  do  me  justice  with  the  cap'n.  You're 
a  lad,  you  are,  but  you're  as  smart  as  paint.  I  see  that 
when  you  first  came  in.  Now,  here  it  is :  What  could 
I  do,  with  this  old  timber  I  hobble -on?  When  I  was 
an  A  B  master  mariner  I'd  have  come  up  alongside  ci 
him,  hand  over  hand,  and  broached  him  to  in  a  brac£ 
of  old  shakes,  I  would;  and  now — " 

And  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  he  stopped,  and  his  jaw 
dropped  as  though  he  had  remembered  something. 

"The  score  !"  he  burst  out.  "Three  goes  o'  rum  ! 
Why,  shiver  my  timbers,  if  I  hadn't  forgotten  my 
score !" 

And,  falling  oh  a  bench,  he  laughed  until  the  tears 
ran  down  his  cheeks.  I  could  not  help  joining;  and 
we  laughed,  together,  peal  after  peal,  until  the  tavern 
rang  again. 

"Why,  what  a  precious  old  sea-calf  I  am  !"  he  said, 
at  last,  wiping  his  cheeks.  "You  and  me  should  get 
on  well,  Hawkins,  for  I'll  take  my  davy  I  should  be 
rated  ship's  boy.  But,  come,  now,  stand  by  to  go 
about.  This  won't  do.  Dooty  is  dooty,  messmates. 
I'll  put  on  my  old  cocked  hat,  and  step  along  of  you 
to  Cap'n  Trelawney,  and  report  this  here  affair.  For, 
mind  you,  it's  serious,  young  Hawkins;  and  neither 
you  nor  me's  come  out  of  it  with  what  I  should  make 
so  bold  as  to  call  credit.  Nor  you  neither,  says  you; 
not  smart — none  of  the  pair  of  us  smart.  But  dash  my 
buttons  !  that  was  a  good  'un  about  my  score." 

And  he  began  to  laugh  again,  and  that  so  heartily, 
that  though  I  did  not  see  the  joke  as  he  did,  I  was 
again  obliged  to  join,  him  in  his  mirth. 

On  our  little  walk  along  the  quays,  he  made  himself 
the  most  interesting  companion,  telling  me  about  the 
different  ships  that  we  passed  by,  their  rig,  tonnage, 
and  nationality^  explaining  the  work  that  was  going 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  it 

forward— now  one  was  discharging,  another  taking 
in  cargo,  and  a  third  making  ready  for  sea;  and  every 
now  and  then  telling  me  some  little  anecdote  of  ships 
or  seamen,  or  repeating  a  nautical  phrase  till  I  had 
learned  it  perfectly.  I  began  to  see  that  here  was  one 
of  the  best  of  possible  shipmates. 

When  we  got  to  the  inn,  the  squire  and  Dr.  Livesey 
were  seated  together,  finishing  a  quart  of  ale  with  a 
toast  in  it,  before  they  should  go  aboard  the  schooner 
on  a  visit  of  inspection. 

Long  John  told  the  story  from  first  to  last,  with  a 
great  deal  of  spirit  and  the  most  perfect  truth.  "That 
was  how  it  were,  now,  weren't  it,  Hawkins?"  he  would 
say,  now  and  again,  and  I  could  always  bear  him 
entirely  out. 

The1  two  gentlemen  regretted  that  Black  Dog-  had 
got  away;  but  we  all  agreed  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done,  and  after  he  had  been  complimented,  Long  John 
took  up  his  crutch  and  departed. 

"All  hands  aboard  by  four  this  afternoon,"  shouted 
the  squire  after  him.    _. 

"Ayxay,  sir,"  cried  the  cook,  in  the  passage. 

"Well,  squire,"  said  Dr.  Livesey,  "I  don't  put  much 
faith  in  your  discoveries,  as  a  general  thing;  but  I  will 
say  this — John  Silver  suits  me." 

"That  man's  a  perfect  trump,"  declared  the  squire, 

"And  now,"  added  the  doctor,  "Jim  may  come  on 
board  with  us,  may  he  not?" 

"To  be  sure  he  may,"  says  the  squire.  "Take  yluf 
bat,  Hawkins,  and  we'll  see  the  ship.'* 


IKEASURE  ISLANtt* 


CHAPTER  IX. 

POWDER   AND   ARMS. 

The  "Hispaniola"  lay  some  way  out,  and  we  went 
under  the  figureheads  and  round  the  sterns  of  many 
other  ships,  and  their  cables  sometimes  grated  be- 
neath our  keel,  and  sometimes  swung  above  us.  At 
last,  however,  we  swung  alongside,  and  were  met  and 
saluted  as  we  stepped  aboard  by  the  mate,  Mr.  Ar- 
row, a  brown  old  sailor,,  with  earrings  in  his  ears  and 
a  squint  He  and  the  squire  were  very  thick  and 
friendly,  but  I  soon  observed  that  things  were  not  the 
same  between  Mr.  Trelawney  and  the  captain. 

This  last  was  a  sharp-looking  man,  wko  seemed 
angry  with  everything  on  board,  and  was  soon  to  tell 
us  why,  for  we  had  hardly  got  down  into  the  cabin 
when  a  sailor  followed  us. 

"Captain  Smollett,  sir,  axing  to.  speak  with  you,'* 
said  he. 

"I  am  always  at  the  captain's  orders.  Show  him  in," 
said  the  squire. 

The  captain,  who  was  close  behind  his  messenger, 
entered  at  once,  and  shut  the  door  behind  him. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  captain,  "better  speak  plain,  I 
believe,  at  the  risk  of  offense.  I  don't  like  this  cruise; 
I  don't  like  the  men;  and  I-don't  like  my  officer.  That's 
short  and  sweet." 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  61 

"Perhaps,  sir,  you  don't  like  the  ship?"  inquired  the 
squire,  very  angry,  as  I  could  see. 

"I  can't  speak  as  to  that,  sir,  not  having  seen  her 
tried,"  said  the  captain.  "She  seems  a  clever  craft; 
more  I  can't  say." 

"Possibly,  sir,  you  may  not  like  your  employer, 
either?"  says  the  squire. 

But  here  Dr.  Livesey  cut  in. 

"Stay  a  bit,"  said  he,  "stay  a  bit.  No  use  of  such 
questions  as  that  but  to  produce  ill-feeling.  The  cap* 
tain  has  said  too  much  or  he  had  said  too  little,  and 
I'm  bound  to  say  that  I  require  an  explanation  of  his 
words.  You  don't,  you  say,  like  this  cruise.  Now, 
why?" 

"I  was  engaged,  sir,  on  what  ye  call  sealed  orders, 
to  sail  this  ship  for  that  gentleman  where  he  should 
bid  me,"  said  the  captain.  "So  far  so  good.  But  now 
I  find  that  every  man  before  the  mast  knows  more 
than  I  do.    I  don't  call  that  fair,  now,  do  you?" 

"No,"  said  Dr.  Livesey,  "I  don't." 

"Next,"  said  the  eaptain,  "I  learn  we  are  going  after 
treasure — hear  it  from  my  own  hands,  mind  yous 
Now,  treasure  is  ticklish  work;  I  don't  like  treasure 
voyages  on  any  account;  and  I  don't  like  them,  above 
all,  when  they  are  secret,  and  when  (begging  your 
pardon,  Mr.  Trelawney)  the  secret  has  been  told  tr 
the  parrot" 

"Silver's  parrot?"  asked  the  squire. 

"It's  a  way  of  speaking,"  said  the  captain.  "Blabbed, 
I  mean.  It's  my  belief  neither  of  you  gentlemen  know 
what  you  are  about;  but  I'll  tell  you  my  way  of  it- 
life  or  death,  and  a  close  run." 

"That  is  all  clear,  and,  I  dare  say,  true  enough,'* 
replied  Dr.  Lfresey.  "We  take  the  risk;  but  we  ars 
sot  so  ignorant  as  you  believe  us.  Next,  you  say  $cm 
3on'fe  like  the  crew*   Are  they  net  good  searaeer* 


€2  TREASURE  ISI4AND. 

"I  don't  like  them,  sir,"  returned  Captain  Smollett 
"And  I  think  I  should  have  had  the  choosing  of  my 
own  hands,  if  you  go  to  that." 

"Perhaps  you  should,"  replied  the  doctor.  "My 
friend  should,  perhaps,  have  taken  you  along  with 
him;  but  the  slight,  if  there  be  one,  was  unintentional. 
And  you  don't  like  Mr.  Arrow?" 

"I  don't  sir.  I  believe  he's  a  good  seaman;  but  he's 
too  free  with  the  crew  to  be  a  good  officer.  A  mate 
should  keep  himself  to  himself— shouldn't  drink  with 
the  men  before  the  m?st !" 

"Do  you  mean  he  drinks?"  cried  the  squire. 

"No,  sir,"  replied  the  captain;  "only  that  he's  too 
familiar." 

"Well,  now,  and  the  short  and  long  of  it,  captain?" 
asked  the  doctor.    "Tell  us  what  you  want" 

"Well,  gentlemen,  are  you  determined  to  go  on  this 
cruise?" 

"Like  iron,"  answered  the  squire. 

"Very  good,"  said  the  captain.  "Then,  as  you've 
beard  me  very  patiently,  saying  things  that  I  could 
not  prove,  hear  me  a  few  words  more.  They  are  put- 
ting the  powder  and  the  arms  in  the  forehold.  Now, 
you  have  a  good  place  under  the  cabin;  why  not  put 
them  there? — first  point  Then  you  are  bringing  fou?; 
Of  your  own  people  with  you,  and  they  tell  me  some  of 
them  are  to  be  berthed  forward.  Why  not  give  them 
the  berths  here  beside  the  cabin? — second  point." 

"Any  more?"  asked  Mr.  Trelawney. 

"One  more,"  said  the  captain.  "There's  been  too 
fiiuch  blabbing  already." 

"Far  too  much,"  agreed  the  doctor. 

••I'll  tell  you  what  I've  heard  myself,"  continued 
O&ptain  Smollett:  "that  you  have  a  map  of  an  island; 
Iftat  there's  crosses  on  the  map  to  show  where  treas- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  % 

We  is;  and  that  the  island  lies—"*  And  toes  be  mmm% 
file  latitude  and  longitude  exactly. 

"I  never  told  that,"  cried  the  squire,  "to  a  soulf* 

"The  hands  know  it,  sir,"  returned  the  captain, 

•'Livesey,  that  must  have  been  you  or  Hawkins/* 
cried  the  squire. 

"It  aoesn't  much  matter  who  it  was/'  replied  the 
doctor.  And  I  could  see"  that  neither  he  nor  the  cap- 
tain paid  much  regard  to  Mr.  Treiawney's  protesta- 
tions. Neither  did  I,  to  be  sure,  he  was  so. loose  a 
talker;  yet  in  this  case  I  believe  he  was  really  right, 
and  that  nobody  had  told  the  situation  of  the  island. 

"Well,  gentlemen,"  continued  the  captain,  "I  don't 
know  who  has  this  map;  but  I  make  it  a  point,  it  shall 
be  kept  secret  even  from  me  and  Mr.  Arrow.  Other- 
Wise  I  would  ask  you  to  let  me  resign." 

"I  see,"  said  the  doctor.  "You  wish  to  keep  tiiis 
matter  dark,  and  to  make  a  garrison  of  the  stem  part 
Of  the  ship,  manned  with  my  friend's  own  people,  and 
provided  with  all  the  arms  and  powder  on  board.  In 
Other  words,  you  fear  a  mutiny." 

"Sir,"  said  Captain  Smollett,  "with  no  intention  to 
take  offense,  I  deny  your  right  to  put  words  into  my 
mouth.  No  captain,  sir,  would  be  justified  in  going  t& 
sea  at  all  if  he  had  ground  enough  for  that.  As  for 
Mr.  Arrow,  I  believe  him  thoroughly  honest;  some  of 
the  men  are  the  same!  all  may  be  for  what  I  know. 
But  I  am  responsible  for  the  ship's  safety  and  the 
life  of  every  man  Jack  aboard  of  her.  I  see  things 
going,  as  I  think,  not  quite  right.  And  I  ask  you  to 
take  certain  precautions,  or  let  me  resign  my  berth. 
And  that's  all." 

"Captain  Smollett,"  began  the  doctor,  with  a  smile, 
•'did  ever  you  hear  the  fable  of  the  mountain  and  the 
mouse?  You'll  excuse  me,  I  dare  say,  but  you  remind 
me  of  that  fable.  When  you  came  in  here  I'll  stake 
my  wig  you  meant  more  than  this." 


U  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"Doctor,"  said  the  captain,  "you  are  smart  When 
I  came  in  here  I  meant  to  get  discharged.  I  had  no 
thought  that  Mr.  Trelawney  would  hear  a  word." 

"No  more:  I  would,"  cried  the  squire.  "Had  Livesey 
not  been  here  I  should  have  seen  yon  to  the  deuce. 
As  it  is,  I  have  heard  you.  I  will  do  as  you  desire; 
but  I  think  the  worse  of  you." 

"That's  as  yeu  please,  sir,"  said  the  captain.  "You'll 
find  I  de  my  duty." 

And  with  that  he  took  his  leave. 

"Trelawney,"  said  the  doctor,  "contrary  to  all  my 
motions,  I  believe  you  have  managed  to  get  two  hon- 
est men  oa  board  with  you—that  man  and  John  Sil- 
ver.1' 

"Silver,  if  you  like,"  cried  the  squire;  "but  as  for 
that  intolerable  humbug,  I  declare  I  think  his  conduct 
unmanly,  unsailorly,  and  downright  un-English." 

**WeH,"  says  the  doctor,  "we  shall  see." 

When  we  came  on  deck,  the  men  had  begun  already 
to  take  out  the  arms  and  powder,  yo-ho-ing  at  their 
work,  while  the  captain  and  Mr.  Arrow  stoed  by  super- 
intending. 

The  new  arrangement  was  quite  to  my  liking.  The 
whole  schooner  had  been  overhauled;  six  berths  had 
been  made  astern,  out  of  what  had  been  the  afterpart 
of  the  mam  held;  and  this  set  of  cabins  was  only 
joined  to  the  galley  and  forecastle  by  a  sparred  pas- 
sage on  the  port  side.  It  had  been  originally  meant 
that  the  captain,  Mr.  Arrow,  Hunter,  Joyce,  the  doc- 
tor* and  the  squire  were  to  occupy  these  six  berths. 
Now  Redruth  and  I  were  to  get  two  of  them,  and  Mr, 
Arrow  and  the  captain  were  to  sleep  on  deck  in  the 
companion,  which  had  been  enlarged  on  each  side  till 
yo*  might  almost  have  called  it  a  round-house.  Very 
low  it  was  still,  of  course;  but  there  was  room  to  swing 
two  hammocks,  and  even  the  mate  seemed  pleased 
with  the  arrangement    Even  he,  perhaps,  had  been 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  U 

doubtful  as  to  the  crew,  but  that  is  only  guess;  for, 
as  you  shall  hear,  we  had  not  long  the  benefit  of  his 
opinion. 

We  were  all  hard  at  work,  changing  the  powder  and 
the  berths,  when,  the  last  man  or  two,  and  Long  John 
along  with  them,  came  off  in  a  shore-boat 

The  cook  came  up  the  side  like  a  monkey  for  clever- 
ness, and,  as  soon  as  he  saw  what  was  doing,  "So  ho, 
mates  !"  said  he,  "what's  this?" 

"We're  a-changing  the  powder,  Jack,"  answers  one. 

"Why,  by  the  powers,"  cried  Long  John,  "if  we  do, 
we'll  miss  the  morning  tide!" 

"My  orders  !"  said  the  captain  shortly.  "You  may 
go  below,  my  man.    Hands  will  want  supper." 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  answered  the  cook;  and,  touching  his 
forelock,  he  disappeared  at  once  in  the  direction  of 
his  galley. 

"That's  a  good  man,  captain,"  said  the  doctor. 

"Very  likely,  sir,"  replied  Captain  Smollett.  "Easy 
with  that,  men — easy,"  he  ran  on,  to  the  fellows  who 
were  shifting  the  powder;  and  then  suddenly  observ- 
ing me  examining  the  swivel  we  carried  amidships, 
a  long  brass  nine^-"Here,  you  ship's  boy,"  he  cried, 
"out  o'  that!  Off  with  you  to  the  cook  and  get  some 
work." 

And  then  as  I  was  hurrying  off  I  heard  him  say. 
quite  loudly,  to  the  doctor: 

"I'll  have  no  favorites  on  my  ship." 

I  assure  you  I  was  quite  of  the  squire's  way  Ot  think* 
log,  and  hated  the  captain  deeply. 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  VOYAGm 

All  that  night  we  were  in  a  great  bustle  getting 
things  stowed  in  their  place,  and  boatfuls  of  the 
squire's  friends,  Mr.  Blandly  and  the  like,  coming  off 
to  wish  kim  a  good  voyage  and  a  safe  return.  We 
never  had  a  night  at  the  Admiral  Benbow  when  I 
had  half  the  work;  and  I  was  dog-tired  when,  a  little 
before  dawn,  the  boatswain  sounded  his  pipe,  and  the 
crew  began  to  man  the  capstanbars.  I  might  have 
been  twice  as  weary,  yet  I  would  not  have  left  the 
deck;  all  was  so  new  and  interesting  to  me — the  brief 
commands,  the  shrill  notes  of  the  whistle,  the  men 
bustling  to  their  places  in  the  glimmer  of  the  ship's 
lanterns. 

"Now,  Barbecue,  tip  us  a  stave,"  cried  one  voice. 

"The  old  one,"  cried  another. 

"Ay,  ay,  mates,"  said  Long  John,  who  was  standing 
by,  with  his  crutch  under  his  arm,  and  at  once  broke 
out  in  the  air  and  words  I  knew  so  well: 

"Fifteen  men  on  the  dead  man's  chest— 
And  then  the  whole  crew  bore  chorus: 
To-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum!" 
And  at  the  third  "ho  !"  drove  the  bars  before  them 
with  a  will. 

Even  at  that  exciting  moment  it  carried  me  back  to 
the  old  Admiral  Benbow  in  a  second;  and  I  seemed 
to  hear  the  voice  of  the  captain  piping  in  the  chorus. 
But  soon  the  anchor  was  short  up;  soon  it  was  hang- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  ® 

ntg  dripping  at  the  bows;  soon  the  sails  began  to 
draw,  and  the  land  and  shipping  to  flit  by  on  either 
side;  and  before  I  could  lie  down  to  snatch  an  hour 
of  slumber  the  "Hispaniola"  had  begun  her  voyage  to 
the  Isle  of  Treasure. 

I  am  not  going  to  relate  the  voyage  in  detail.  It 
was  fairly  prosperous.  The  ship  proved  to  be  a  good 
ship,  the  crew  were  capable  seamen,  and  the  captain 
thoroughly  understood  his  business.  But  before  we 
came  the  length  of  Treasure  Island,  two  or  three 
things  had  happened  which  require  to  be  known. 

Mr.  Arrow,  first  of  all,  turned  out  even  worse  than 
the  captain  had  feared.  He  had  no  command  among 
the  men,  and  people  did  what  they  pleased  with  him. 
But  that  was  by  no  means  the  worst  of  it;  for  after 
a  day  or  two  at  sea  he  began  to  appear  on  deck  with 
hazy  eye,  red  cheeks,  stuttering  tongue,  and  other 
marks  of  drunkenness.  Time  after  time  he  was  or- 
dered below  in  disgrace.  Sometimes  he  fell  and  cut 
himself;  sometimes  he  lay  all  day  long  in  bis  little 
bunk  at  one  side  of  the  companion;  sometimes  for  a 
day  or  two  he  would  be  almost  sober  and  attend  to  his 
work  at  least  passably. 

In  the  meantime,  we  could  never  make  oit  where 
he  got  the  drink.  That  was  the  ship's  mystery. 
Watch  him  as  we  pleased,  we  could  do  nothing  to 
solve  it;  and  when  we  asked  him  to  his  face,  he  would 
only  laugh,  if  he  were  drunk,  and  if  he  were  sober, 
deny  solemnly  that  he  ever  tasted  anything  but  water. 

He  was  not  only  useless  as  an  officer,  and  a  bad 
influence  amongst  the  men,  but  it  was  plain  that  at 
this  rate  he  must  soon  kill  himself  outright;  so  no- 
body was  much  surprised,  nor  very  sorry,  when  one 
dark  night,  with  a  head  sea,  he  disappeared  entirely 
and  was  seen  no  more. 

,  "Overboard!"  said  the  captain.  ^Wett*  gentlemen, 
*Hat  saves  the  trouble  of  putting  him  is  araas." 


*8  TREASURE  ISLANB: 

But  there  we  were,  without  a  mate;  and  it  was  neces- 
sary, of  course,  to  advance  one  of  the  men.  The  boat- 
swain, Job  Anderson,  was  the  likeliest  man  aboard, 
and,  though  he  kept  his  old  title,  he  served  in  a  way 
as  mate.  Mr.  Trelawney  had  followed  the  sea,  and  his 
knowledge  made  him  very  useful,  for  he  often  took  a 
watch  himself  in  easy  weather.  And  the  cockswain, 
Israel  Hands,  was  a  careful,  wily,  old,  experienced 
seaman,  who  could  be  trusted  at  a  pinch  with  almost 
anything. 

He  was  a  great  confidant  of  Long  John  Silver,  and 
so  the  mention  of  his  name  leads  me  on  t#  speak  of  our 
ship's  cook,  Barbecue,  as  the  men  called  him. 
•  Aboard  ship  he  carried  his  crutch  by  a  lanyard 
Tound  his  neck,  to  have  both  hands- as  free  as  possible. 
It  was  something  to  see  him  wedge  the  foot  of  the 
crutch  against  a  bulkhead,  and,  propped  against  it, 
yielding  to  every  movement  of  the  ship,  get  on  with 
his  cooking  like  some  one  safe  ashore.  Still  more 
strange  was  it  to  see  him  in  the  heaviest  of  weather 
cross  the  deck.  He  hadi  a  line  or  two  rigged  up  to  help 
him  across  the  widest  spaces — Long  John's  ear-rings, 
they  were  called;  and  he  would  hand  himself  from  one 
place  to  another,  now  using  the  crutch,  now  trailing 
it  alongside  by  the  lanyard,  as  quickly  as  another  man 
could  walk.  Yet  some  of  the  men  who  had  sailed  with 
him  before  expressed  their  pity  to  see  him  so  reduced. 

"He's  no  common  man,  Barbecue,"  said  the  cock- 
swain to  me.  "He  nad  good  schooling  in  his  young 
days,  and  can  speak  like  a  book  when  so  minded;  and 
brave — lion's  nothing  alongside  of  Long  John  !  I  see 
him  grapple  four,  and  knock  their  heads  together— 
him  unarmed." 

All  the  crew  respected  and  even  obeyed  him.  He 
had  a  way  of  talking  to  each,  and  doing  everybody 
some  particular  service.  To  me  he  was  unweariedly 
kind;  and  always  glad  to  see  me  in  the  galley,  which 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  69 

lie  kept  as  clean  as  a  new  pin;  the  dishes  hanging  up 
burnished,  and  his  parrot  in  a  cage  in  the  corner. 

"Come  away,  Hawkins,"  he  would  say;  "come  and 
have  a  yarn  with  John.  Nobody  more  welcome  than 
yourself,  my  son.  Sit  you  down  and  hear  the  news. 
Here's  Cap* a  Flint— I  calls  my  parrot  Cap'n  Flint, 
after  the  famous  buccaneer—here's  Cap'n  Flint  pre- 
dicting success  to  our  v'yage.    Wasn't  you,  cap'n?" 

And  the  parrot  would  say,  with  great  rapidity, 
"Pieces  of  eight !  pieces  of  eight !  pieces  of  eight !"  till 
you  wondered  that  it  was  not  out  of  breath,  or  till 
John  threw  his  handkerchief  over  the  cage. 

"Now,  that  bird,"  he  would  say,  "is,  maybe,  two 
hundred  years  old,  Hawkins — they  live  forever  mostly; 
and  if  anybody's  seen  more  wickedness,  it  must  be  the 
devil  himself.  She's  sailed  with  England — the  great 
Cap'n  England,  the  pirate.  She's  been  at  Madagascar, 
and  at  Malabar,  and  Surinam,  and  Providence,  and 
Portobello.  She  was  at  the  fishing  up  of  the  wrecked 
plate  ships.  It's  there  she  learned  'Pieces  of  eight,* 
and  little  wonder;  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
Of  'em,  Hawkins  !  She  was  at  the  boarding  of  the 
•Viceroy  of  the  Indies'  out  of  Goa,  she  was;  and  to 
look  at  her  you  would  think  she  was  a  babby.  But  you 
tmelled  powder — didn't  you,  cap'n?" 

"Stand  by  t&  go  about,"  the  parrot  would  scream. 

"Ah,  she's  a  handsome  craft,  she  is,"  the  cook  would 
say,  and  give  her  sugar  from  his  pocket,  and  then  the 
bird  would  peck  at  the  bars  and  swear  straight  on, 
passing  belief  for  wickedness.  "There,"  John  would 
add,  "you  can't  touch  pitch  and  not  be  mucked,  lad. 
Here's  this  poor  old  innocent  bird  of  mine  swearing 
blue  fire,  and  none  the  wiser,  you  may  lay  to  that 
She  would  swear  the  same,  in  a  manner  of  speaking, 
before  the  chaplain."  And  John  would  touch  his  fore* 
kick  with  a  solemn  way  he  bad,  that  made  me  t&fo& 
be  was  the  best  of  men. 


n  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

In  the  meantime,  squire  and  Captain  Smollett  were 
still  on  pretty  distant  terms  with  one  another.  The 
squire  made  no  bones  about  the  matter;  he  despised 
the  captain.  The  captain,  on  his  part,  never  spoke  but 
when  he  was  spoken  to,  and  then  sharp  and  short  and 
dry,  and  not  a  word  wasted.  He  owned,  when  driven 
into  a  corner,  that  he  seemed  to  have  been  wrong 
about  the  crew,  that  some  of  them  were  as  brisk  as  he 
wanted  to  see,  and  all  had  behaved  fairly  well.  As  for 
the  ship,  he  had  taken  a  downright  fancy  to  her. 
"She'll  lie  a  point  nearer  the  wind  than  a  man  has  a 
right  to  expect  of  his  own  married  wife,  sir.  But,"  he 
would  add,  "all  I  say  is,  we're  not  home  again,  and  I 
don't  like  the  cruise." 

The  squire,  at  this,  would  turn  away  and  march  up 
and  down  the  deck,  chin  in  air. 

"A  trifie  more  of  that  man,"  he  would  say,  "and  I 
should  explode." 

We  had  some  heavy  weather,  which  only  proved  the 
3&alities  of  the  "Hispaniola."  Every  man  on  board 
seemed  well  content,  and  they  must  have  been  hard  to 
please  if  they  had  been  otherwise;  for  it  is  my  belief 
there  was  never  a  ship's  company  so  spoiled  since 
Noah  put  to  sea.  Double  grog  was  going  on  the  least 
excuse;  there  was  duff  on  odd  days,  as  for  instance,  if 
the  squire  heard  it  was  any  man's  birthday;  and  al- 
ways a  barrel  of  apples  standing  broached  in  the 
waist,  for  any  one  to  help  himself  that  had  a  fancy. 

**Never  knew  good  to  come  of  it  yet,"  the  captain 
eaid  to  Dr.  Livesey.  "Spoil  fok's'le  hands,  make  dev- 
ils.   That's  my  belief." 

&QX  good  did  come  of  the  apple  barrel,  as  you  shall 
l**f ;  for  if  it  had  not  been  for  that,  we  should  have 
<kfe£  no  note  of  warning  and  might  all  have  perished 
if  Sfee  hand -of  treachery. 

*fe&i  Is  h«yw  it  c^me  ahoot. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  & 

We  had  run  up  the  trades  to  get  the  wind  of  the 
island  we  were  after — I  am  not  allowed  to  be  more 
plain — and  now  we  were  running  down  for  it  with  a 
bright  lookout  day  and  night  It  was  about  the  last 
day  of  our  outward  voyage,  by  the  largest  compute 
tion;  some  time  that  night,  or  at  latest,  before  noon 
of  the  morrow,  we  should  sight  the  Treasure  Island. 
We  were  heading  S.  S.  W.,  and  had  a  steady  breeze 
abeam  and  a  quiet  sea.  The  "Hispaniola"  rolled 
steadily,  dipping  her  bowsprit  now  and  then  with  a 
whiff  of  spray.  All  was  drawing  alow  and  aloft; 
every  one  was  in  the  bravest  spirits,  because  we  were 
now  so  near  an  end  of  the  first  part  of  our  adventure. 

Now,  just  after  sundown,  when  all  my  work  was 
over,  and  I  was  on  my  way  to  my  berth,  it  occurred  to 
me  that  I  should  like  an  apple.  I  ran  on  deck.  The 
watch  was  all  forward  looking  out  for  the  island.  The 
man  at  the  helm  was  watching  the  luff  of  the  sail, 
and  whistling  away  gently  to  himself;  and  that  was 
the  only  sound  excepting  the  swish  of  the  sea  against 
the  bows  and  around  the  sides  of  the  ship. 

In  I  got  bodily  into  the  apple  barrel,  and  found  there 
was  scarce  an  apple  left;  but,  sitting  down  there  in 
the  dark,  what  with  the  sound  of  the  waters  and  the 
rocking  movement  of  the  ship,  I  had  either  fallen 
asleep,  or  was  on  the  point  of  doing  so,  when  a  heavy 
man  sat  down  with  rather  a  clash  close  by.  The  bar- 
rel shook  as  he  leaned  his  shoulders  against  it,  and  I 
was  just  about  to  jump  up  when  the  man  began  to 
speak.  It  was  Silver's  voice,  and  before  I  had  heard  a 
dozen  words,  I  would  not  have  shown  myself  for  all 
the  world,  but  lay  there,  trembling  and  listening,  in 
the  extreme  of  fear  and  curiosity;  for  from  these  dozen 
words  I  understood  that  the  lives  of  all  the  hones* 
men  aboard  depended  upon  me  alone. 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XL 

WHAT  I  HEARD  IN  THE  APPLE  BARREL. 

"No,  not  I,"  said  Silver.  "Flint  was  Gap'n^I  was 
Quarter-master,  along  of  my  timber  leg.  The  same 
broadside  I  lost  my  leg,  old  Pew  lost  his  deadlights. 
It  was  a  master  surgeon,  him  that  ampytated  me — 
out  of  college  and  all — Latin  by  the  bucket,  and  what 
not;  but  he  was  hanged  like  a  dog,  and  sun-dried  like 
the  rest,  at  Corso  Castle.  That  was  Roberts'  men,  that 
was,  and  corned  of  changing  names  to  their  ships — 
'Royal  Fortune'  and  so  on.  Now,  what  a  ship  was 
christened,  so  let  her  stay,  I  says.  So  it  was  with  the 
'Cassandra,'  as  brought  us  all  safe  home  from  Mala- 
bar, after  England  took  the  'Viceroy  of  the  Indies;' 
so  it  was  with  the  old  'Walrus,'  Flint's  old  ship,  as 
I've  seen  a-muck  with  the  red  blood  and  fit  to  sink 
with  gold." 

"Ah!"  cried  another  voice,  that  of  the  youngest  hand 
on  board,  and  evidently  full  of  admiration,  "he  was 
the  flower  of  the  flock,  was"  Flint!" 

"Davis  was  a  man,  too,  by  all  accounts,"  said  Silver. 
"I  never  sailed  along  of  him;  first  with  England,  then 
with  Flint,  that's  my  story;  and  now  here  on  my  own 
account,  in  a  manner  of  speaking.  I  laid  by  nine  huh~ 
dred  safe,  from  England,  and  two  thousand  after  Flint. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  73 

That  ain't  bad  for  a  man  before  the  mast-— all  safe  in 
bank.  'Tain't  earning  now;  it's  saving  does  it,  you 
may  lay  to  that.  Where's  all  England's  men  now?  I 
dunno.  Where's  Flint's?  Why,  most  on  'em  aboard 
here,  and  glad  to  get  the  duff — been  begging  before 
that,  some  on  'em.  Old  Pew,  as  had  lost  his  sight, 
and  might  have  thought  shame,  spends  twelve  hun- 
dred pounds  in  a  year,  like  a  lord  in  Parliament. 
Where  is  he  now?  Well,  he's  dead  now  and  under 
hatches;  but  for  two  years  before  that,  shiver  my  tim- 
bers! that  man  was  starving.  He  begged,  and  he  stole, 
and  he  cut  throats,  and  starved  at  that,  by  the  pow- 
ers!" 

"Well,  it  ain't  much  use,  after  all,"  said  the  young 
seaman. 

"  'Tain't  much  use  for  fools,  you  may  lay  to  it — that, 
nor  nothing,"  cried  Silver.  "But  now,  you  look  here: 
you're  young,  you  are,  but  you're  as  smart  as  paint 
I  see  that  when  I  set  my  eyes  on  you,  and  I'll  talk  to 
you  like  a  man." 

You  can  imagine  how  I  felt  when  I  heard  this  abom- 
inable old  rogue  addressing  another  in  the  very  same 
words  of  flattery  as  he  had  used  to  myself.  I  think,  if 
I  had  been  able,  that  I  would  have  killed  him  through 
the  barrel.  Meantime,  he  ran  on,  little  supposing  he 
was  overheard.  ' 

"Here  it  is  about  gentlemen  of  fortune.  They  lives 
rough,  and  they  risk  swinging,  but  they  eat  and  drink 
like  fighting-cocks,  and  when  a  cruise  is  done,  why 
it's  hundreds  of  pounds  instead  of  hundreds  of  farth- 
ings in  their  pockets.  Now,  the  most  goes  for  rum 
and  a  good  fling,  and  to  sea  again  in  their  shirts.  But 
that's  not  the  course  I  lay.  I-puts  it  all  away,  some 
here,  some  there,  and  none  too  much  anywheres,  by 
reason  of  suspicion.  I'm  fifty,  mark  you;  once  back 
from  this  cruise,  I  set  up  gentlemen  in  earnest.  Time 
enough,  too,  says  you.   Ah!  but  I've  lived  easy  in  the 


74  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

meantime;  never  denied  myself  o'  nothing  heart  de- 
sires, and  slept  soft  and  eat  dainty  all  my  days,  but 
when  at  sea.  And  how  did  I  begin?  Before  the  mast 
like  you!"  N 

"Well,"  said  the  other,  "but  all  the  other  money's 
gone  now,  ain't  it?  You  daren't  show  face  in  Bristol 
after  this." 

"Why,  where  might  you  suppose  it  was?"  asked  Sil- 
ver, derisively. 

"At  Bristol,  in  banks  and  places,"  answered  his 
companion. 

"It  were,"  said  the  cook;  "it  were  when  we  weighed 
anchor.  But  my  old  missis  has  it  all  by  now.  And  the 
Spy-glass  is  sold,  lease  and  good-will  and  rigging  j  and 
the  old  girl's  off  to  meet  me.  I  would  tell  you  where, 
for  I  trust  you;  but  it  'ud  make  jealousy  among  the 
mates." 

"And  you  can  trust  your  missis?"  asked  the  other. 

"Gentlemen  of  fortune,"  returned  the  cook,  "usually 
trusts  little  among  themselves,  and  right  they  are, 
you  may  lay  to  it.  But  I  have  a  way  with  me,  I  have. 
When  a  mate  brings  a  slip  on  his  cable — one  as  knows 
me,  I  mean — it  won't  be  in  the  same  world  with  old 
John.  There  was  some  that  was  feared  of  Pew,  and 
some  that  was  feared  of  Flint;  but  Flint  his  own  self 
was  feared  of  me.  Feared  he  was,  and  proud.  They 
was  the  roughest  crew  afloat,  was  Flint's;  the  devil 
himself  would  have  been  feared  to  go  to  sea  with  them. 
Well,  now,  I  tell  you,  I'm  not  a  boasting  man,  and 
you  seen  yourself  how  easy  I  keep  company;  for  when 
I  was  quartermaster,  lambs  wasn't  the  word  for  Flint'* 
old  buccaneers.  Ah,  you  may  be  sure  of  yourself  in  old 
John's  ship." 

"Well,  I  tell  you  now,"  replied  the  lad,  "I  didat 
half  a  quarter  like  the  job  till  I  had  this  talk  wftb 
you*  John;  but  there's  my  hand  on  it  now." 


TOBAgURE  ISLAND  M 

*M&&  a  brave  lad  you  were,  and  smart,  too,  *  ae* 
swered  Silver,  shaking  hands  so  heartily  that  all  tne 
barrel  shook,  "and  a  finer  figure-head  for  a  gentleman 
Of  fortune  I  never  clapped  my  eyes  on." 

By  this  time  I  had  begun  to  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  their  terms.  By  a  "gentleman  of  fortune"  they 
plainly  meant  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  common 
pirate,  and  the  little  scene  that  I  had  overheard  was 
the  last  act  in  the  corruption  of  one  of  the  honest 
hands— perhaps  of  the  last  one  left  aboard.  But  on 
this  point  I  was  soon  to  be  relieved,  for  Silver  giving 
a  little  whistle,  a  third  man  strolled  up,  and  sat  down 
by  the  party. 

"Dick's  square,"  said  Silver. 

"Oh,  I  know'd  Dick  was  square,"  returned  the  voice 
of  the  cockswain,  Israel  Hands.  "He*s  no  fool,  is 
Dick."  And  he  turned  his  quid  and  spat.  "But,  look 
here,"  he  went  on,  "here's  what  I  want  to  know,  Bar- 
becue— how  long  are  we  a-going  to  stand  off  and  on 
like  a  blessed  bum-boat?  I've  had  a'most  enough  o' 
Cap't  Smollett;  he's  hazed  me  long  enough,  by  thun- 
der! I  want  to  go  into  that  cabin,  I  do.  I  want  their 
pickles  and  wines,  and  that." 

"Israel,"  said  Silver,  "your  head  ain't  much  account, 
nor  ever  was.  But  you're  able  to  hear,  I  reckon;  least- 
ways, your  ears  is  big  enough.  Now,  here's  what  I 
say — you'll  berth  forward,  and  you'll  live  hard,  and 
you'll  speak  soft,  and  you'll  keep  sober,  till  I  give 
the  word;  and  you  may  lay  to  that,  my  son." 

"Well,  I  don't  say  no,  do  I?"  growled  the  cock- 
swain.  "What  I  say  is,  when?  That's  what  I  say." 

"When!  by  the  powers!"  cried  Silver.  "Well,  now, 
if  you  want  to  know,  I'll  tell  you  when.  The  last 
moment  I  can  manage;  and  that's  when.  Here's  a  first 
rato  seaman,  Cap'n  Smollett,  sails  the  blessed  ship  for 
us.  Here's  this  squire  and  doctor  with  a  map  and 
such — I  don't  know  where  it  is,  do  I?    No  more  do 


ft  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

you,  says  you.  Well,  then,  I  mean  this  squire  and  doo» 
tor  shall  find  the  stuff,  and  help  us  to  get  it  aboard, 
by  the  powers.  Then  we'll  see.  If  I  was  sure  of  you 
ail,  sons  of  double  Dutchmen,  I'd  have  Cap'n  Smollett 
navigate  us  half-way  back  again  before  I  struck." 
"Why,  we're  all  seamen  aboard  here,  I  should  think," 
said  the  lad  Dick. 

"We're  all  fok's'le  hands,  you  mean,"  snapped  Sil- 
ver. "We  can  steer  a  course,  but  who  s  to  set  one? 
That's  what  all  you  gentlemen  split  on,  first  and  last 
If  I  had  my  way,  I'd  have  Cap'n  Smollett  work  us 
back  into  the  trades  at  least;  then  we'd  have  no  blessed 
miscalculations  and  a  spoonful  of  water  a  day.  But 
I  know  the  sort  you  are.  I'll  finish  with  'em  at  the 
island,  as  soon's  the  blunt's  on  board,  and  a  pity  it  is. 
But  you're  never  happy  till  you're  drunk.  Split  my 
sides,  I've  a  sick  heart  to  sail  with  the  likes  of  you!" 

"Easy  all,  Long  John,"  cried  Israel.  "Who's 
a-crossin*  of  you?" 

"Why,  how  many  tall  ships,  think  ye,  now,  have  I 
seen  laid  aboard?  and  how  many  brisk  lads  drying  in 
the  sun  at  Execution  Dock?"  cried  Silver;  "and  all  fop 
the  same  hurry  and  hurry  and  hurry.  You  hear  me? 
I  seen  a  thing  or  two  at  sea,  I  have.  If  you  would 
on'y  lay  your  course,  and  a  p'int  to  windward,  you 
would  ride  in  carriages,  you  would.  But  not  you!  I 
know  you.  You'll  have  your  mouthful  of  rum  to-mor- 
row, and  go  hang." 

"Everybody  know'd  you  was  a  kind  of  a  chapling, 
John;  but  there's  others  as  could  hand  and  steer  as 
well  as  you,"  said  Israel.  "They  liked  a  bit  o'  fun, 
they  did.  They  wasn't  so  high  and  dry,  nohow,  but 
took  their  fling,  like  jolly  companions  every  one." 

"So?"  says  Silver.  "Well,  and  where  are  they  now? 
Pew  was  that  sort,  and  he  died  a  beggar-man.  Flint 
was,  and  he  died  of  rum  at  Savannah.  Ah,  they  was 
9  sweet  crew,  they  was!  on'y,  where  are  they?" 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  77 

"But,"  asked  Dick,  "when  we  do  lay  'em  athwart, 
"What  are  we  to  do  with  'em,  anyhow?" 

"There's  the  man  for  me!"  cried  the  cook,  admir- 
ingly, "that's  what  I  call  business.  Well,  what  would 
you  think?  Put  'em  ashore  like  maroons?  That 
would  have  been  England's  way.  Or  cut  'em  down 
like  that  much  pork?  That  would  have  been  Flint's 
or  Billy  Bones's." 

"Billy  was  the  man  for  that,"  said  Israel.  "  Dead 
men  don't  bite,'  says  he.  Well,  he's  dead  now  hisself ; 
he  knows  the  long  and  short  on  it  now;  and  if  ever 
a  rough  hand  come  to  port,  it  was  Billy." 

"Right  you  are,"  said  Silver,  "rough  and  ready.  But 
mark  you  kere;  I'm  an  easy  man — I'm  quite  the  gen- 
tleman, says  you;  but  this  time  it's  serious.  Dooty  is 
dooty,  mates.  I  give  my  vote  death.  When  I'm  jn 
Parlyment,  and  riding  in  my  coach,  I  don't  want  none 
of  these  sea-lawyers  in  the  cabin  a-coming  home,  un- 
looked  for,  like  the  devil  at  prayers.  Wait  is  what  I 
say!  but  when  the  time  comes,  why,  let  her  rip!" 

"John,"  cries  the  cockswain,  "you're  a  man!" 

"You'll  say  so,  Israel,  when  you  see,"  said  Silver. 
"Only  one  thing  I  claim — I  claim  Trelawney.  I'll 
wring  his  calf's  head  off  his  body  with  these  hands. 
Dick!"  he  added,  breaking  off,  "you  must  jump  up,  like 
a  sweet  lad,  and  get  me  an  apple,  to  wet  my  pipe  like." 

You  may  fancy  the  terror  I  was  in!  I  should  have 
leaped  out  and  run  for  it,  if  I  had  found  the  strength; 
but  my  limbs  and  heart  alike  misgave  me.  I  heard 
Dick  begin  to  rise,  and  then  some  one  seemingly 
stopped  him,  and  the  voice  of  Hands  exclaimed: 

"Oh,  stow  that!  Don't  you  get  sucking  of  that  bilge, 
John.   Let's  have  a  go  of  the  rum." 

"Dick,"  said  Silver,  "I  trust  you.  I've  a  gauge  on 
the  keg,  mind.  There's  the  key;  you  fill  a  pannikin 
and  bring  it  up." 


78  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

Terrified  as  I  was,  I  could  not  help  thinking  to  my-< 
self  that  this  must  have  been  how  Mr.  Arrow  got  the 
strong  waters  that  destroyed  him. 

Dick  was  gone  but  a  little  while,  and  during  his  ab- 
sence Israel  spoke  straight  on  in  the  cook's  ear.  It  was 
bu  ta  word  or  two  that  I  could  catch,  and  yet  I  gath- 
ered some  important  news;  for,  besides  other  scraps 
that  tended  to  the  same  purpose,  this  whole  clause 
was  audible:  "Not  another  man  of  them'll  jine." 
Hence  there  were  still  faithful  men  on  board. 

When  Dick  returned,  one  after  another  of  the  trio 
took  the  pannikin  and  drank — one  "To  luck;"  another 
with  a  "Here's  to  old  Flint;"  and  Silver  himself  say- 
ing in  a  kind  of  song,  "Here  to  ourselves,  and  hold 
your  luff,  plenty  of  prizes  and  plenty  of  duff." 

Just  then  a  sort  of  brightness  fell  upon  me  in  the 
barrel,  and,  looking  up,  I  found  the  moon  had  risen, 
and  was  silvering  the  mizzen-top  and  shining  white 
on  the  luff  of  the  foresail;  and  almost  at  the  same  time 
the  voice  on  the  lookout  touted,  "Land  ho!" 


$B£A£URE  ISLAND* 


CHAPTER  XI!. 

COUNCIL  OF  WAR. 

There  was  a  great  rush  of  feet  across  the  deck.  I 
could  hear  people  tumbling  up  from  the  cabin  and  the 
fok's'le;  and,  slipping  in,  an  instant  outside  my  barrel, 
I  dived  behind  the  foresail,  made  a  double  toward  the 
stern,  and  came  out  upon  the  open  deck  in  time  to 
join  Hunter  and  Dr.  Livesey  in  the  rush  for  the 
weather  bow. 

There  all  hands  were  already  congregated.  A  belt  of 
fog  had  lifted  almost  simultaneously  with  the  appear- 
ance of  the  moon.  Away  to  the  southwest  of  us  we 
saw  two  low  hills,  about  a  couple  of  miles  apart,  and 
rising  behind  one  of  them  a  third  and  higher 
hill,  whose  peak  was  still  buried  in  the  fog.  All  three 
seemed  sharp  and  conical  in  figure. 

So  much  I  saw  almost  in  a  dream,  for  I  had  not  yet 
recoveSted  from  my  horrid  fear  of  a  minute  or  two  be- 
fore. And  than  I  heard  the  voice  of  Captain  Smollett 
issuing  orders.  The  "Hispaniola"  was  laid  a  couple 
of  points  nearer  the  wind,  and  now  sailed  a  course  that 
would  just  clear  the  island  on  the  east. 

"And  now,  men,"  said  the  captain,  when  all  waf 
sheeted  home,  "has  any  one  of  you  ever  seen  that  land 
ahead?" 

"I  have,  sir,"  said  Silver. .  "I've  watered  there  wit*' 
a  trader  I  was  cook  in." 


SO  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"The  anchorage  is  on  the  south,  behind  an  islet,  I 
fancy?"  asked  the  captain. 

"Yes,  sir;  Skeleton  Island  they  calls  it.  It  were  a 
main  place  for  pirates  once,  and  a  hand  we  had  on 
board  knowed  all  their  names  for  it.  That  hill  to  the 
nor'ard  they  calls  the  Foremast  Hill;  there  are  three 
hills  in  a  row  running  south'ard — fore,  main  and  miz- 
zen,  sir.  But  the  main — that's  the  big  'un,  with  the 
cloud  on  it — they  usually  calls  the  Spy-glass,  by  rea- 
son of  a  lookout  they  kept  when  they  was  in  the  an- 
chorage cleaning;  for  it's  there  they  cleaned  their 
ships,  sir,  asking  your  pardon." 

"I  have  a  chart  here,"  says  Captain  Smollett.  "See 
if  that's  the  place." 

Long  John's  eyes  burned  in  his  head  as  he  took  the 
chart;  but,  by  the  fresh  look  of  the  paper,  I  knew  he 
was  doomed  to  disappointment.  This  was  not  the  map 
we  found  in  Billy  Bones's  chest,  but  an  accurate  copy, 
complete  in  all  things — names,  and  heights,  and 
soundings — with  the  single  .exception  of  the  red 
crosses  and  the  written  notes.  Sharp  as  must  have 
been  his  annoyance,  Silver  had  the  strength  of  mind 
to  hide  it. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  he,  "this  is  the  spot,  to  be  sure;  and 
very  prettily  drawed  out.  Who  might  have  done  that, 
I  wonder?  The  pirates  were  too  ignorant,  I  reckon. 
Ay,  here  it  is:  'Captain  Kidd's  anchorage' — just  the 
name  my  shipmate  called  it.  There's  a  strong  current 
runs  along  the  south,  and  then  away  nor'ard  up  the 
west  coast.  Right  you  was,  sir,"  says  he,  "to  haul 
your  wind  and  keep  the  weather  of  the  island.  Leasts 
ways,  if  such  was  your  intention  as  to  enter  and 
careen,  and  there  ain't  no  better  place  for  that  in 
these  waters." 

"Thank  you,  my  man,"  says  Captain  Smollett.  "I'll 
ask  you,  later  on,  to  give  us  a  help.    You  may  go." 

I  was  surprised  at  the  coolness  with  which  Joha 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  r 

avowed  Ms  knowledge  of  the  island;  and  I  own  * 
was  half  frightened  when  I  saw  him  drawing  nearer 
to  myself.  He  did  not  know,  to  be  sure,  that  I  had 
overheard  his  council  from  the  apple  barrel,  and  yet 
I  had,  by  this  time,  taken  such  a  horror  of  his  cruelty, 
duplicity,  and  power,  that  I  could  scarce  conceal  a 
shudder  when  he  laid  his  hand  upon  my  arm. 

"Ah,"  says  he,  "this  here  is  a  sweet  spot,  this 
island — a  sweet  spot  for  a  lad  to  get  ashore  on.  You'll 
bathe,  and  you'll  climb  trees,  and  you'll  hunt  goats, 
you  will;  and  you'll  get  aloft  on  them  hills  like  a  goat 
yourself.  Why,  it  makes  me  young  again.  I  was  go- 
ing to  forget  my  timber  leg,  I  was.  It's  a  pleasant 
thing  to  be  young,  and  have  ten  toes,  and  you  may 
lay  to  that.  When  you  want  to  go  a  bit  of  exploring, 
you  just  ask  ©Id  J@hn,  and  he'll  put  hp  a  snack  for  you 
to  take  along." 

And  clapping  me  in  the  friendliest  way  upon  the 
shoulder,  he  hofebled  off  forward,  and  went  below. 

Captain  Smollett,  the  squire  and  Dr.  Livesey  Were 
talking  together  on  the  quarter-deck;  and,  anxious  as 
I  was1  to  tell  thena  my  story,  I  durst  not  interrupt  them 
openly.  While  I  was  still  casting  about  in  my 
thoughts  to  find  seme  probable  excuse,  Dr.  Livesey 
called  mei  to  his  side.  He  had  left  his  pipe  below,  and 
being  a  slave  t©  tebaceo,  had  meant  that  I  should  fetch 
it;  but  as  soon  as  I  was  near  enough  to  speak  and  not 
be  overheard,  I  broke  out  immediately:  "Beetor,  let 
me  speak.  Get  the  captain  and  squire  dewn  to  the 
cabin,  and  then  make  some  pretense  t©  send  for  me, 
I  have  terrible  news." 

The  doctor  changed  countenance  a  little,  but  next 
moment^  he  was  master  of  himself. 

"Thank  you,  Jim,"  said  he,  quite  loudly,  "that  was 
all  I  wanted  to;  know,"  as  if  he  had  asked  me  a  ques- 
tion. 

And  with  that  he  turned  on  his  heel  and  rejoined 


§£<  TREASURE  ISLAND./ 

the  other  two.  They  spoke  together  for  a  little,  and 
though  none  of  them  started,  or  raised  his  voice,  or  so 
much  as  whistled,  it  was  plain  enough  that  Dr.  Live- 
sey  hwJ  communicated  my  request;  for  the  next  thing 
that  I  heard  was  the  captain  giving  an  Order  to  Job 
Anderson,  and  all  hands  were  piped  on  deck. 

"My  lads,"  said  Captain  Smollett,  "I've  a  word  to 
say  to  you.  This  land  that  he  have  sighted  is  the 
place  we  have  been  sailing  to.  Mr.  Trelawney,  being 
a  very  openhanded  gentleman,  as  we  all  know,  has 
just  asked  me  a  word  or  two,  and  as  I  was  able  to  tell 
him  that  every  man  on  board  had  done  his  duty,  alow 
and  aloft,  as  I  never  ask  to  see  it  dene  better,  why, 
he  and  I  and  the  doctor  are  going  below  to  the  cabin 
to  drink  your  health  and  luck,  and  you'll  have  grog 
served  out  for  you  to  drink  our  health  and  luck.  I'll 
tell  you  what  I  think  of  this:  I  think  it  handsome. 
And  if  you  think  as  I  do,  you'll  give  a  good  sea  cheer 
for  the  gentleman  that  does  it." 

The  cheer  followed — that  was  a  matter  of  course; 
but  it  rang  out  so  full  and  hearty,  that  I  confess  I 
could  hardly  believe  these  same  men  were  plotting 
for  our  blood. 

"One  more  cheer  for  Cap'n  Smollett,"  cried  Long 
John,  when  the  first  had  subsided. 

And  this  also  was  given  with  a  will. 

On  the  top  of  that  the  three  gentlemen  went  below, 
and  not  long  after  word  was  sent  forward  that  Jim 
Hawkins  was  wanted  in  the  cabin. 

I  found  them  all  three  seated  round  the  table,  a  bot- 
tle of  Spanish  wine  and  some  raisins  before  them,  and5 
the  doctor  smoking  away,  with  his  wig  on  his  lap,  and 
that,  I  knew,  was  a«sign  that  he  was  agitated.  The 
Stern  window  was  open,  for  it  was  a  warm  night,  and 
you  could  see  the  moon  shining  behind  on  the  ship's 
wake. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  U 

*Nows  Hawkins,"  said  the  squire,  "you  have  some* 
thing  to  say.   Speak  up." 

I  did  as  I  was  bid,  and,  as  short  as  I  could  make  it, 
told  the  whole  details  of  Silver's  conversation.  No- 
body interrupted  me  till  I  was  done,  nor  did  any  one 
of  the  three  ©f  them  make  so  much  as  a  movement,  but 
they  kept  their  eyes  upon  my  face  from  first  to  last. 

"Jim,"  said  Dr.  Livesey,  "take  a  seat." 

And  they  made  me  sit  down  at  table  beside  them, 
poured  me  eut  a  glass  of  wine,  filled  my  hands  with 
raisins,  anii  all  three,  one  after  the  other,  and  each 
with  a  bow,  drank  my  good  health,  and  their  service 
to  me,  for  my  luck  and  courage. 

"Now,  captain,"  said  the  squire,  "you  were  right, 
and  I  was  wrong.  I  own  myself  an  ass,  and  I  await 
your  orders." 

"No  more  an  ass  than  I,  sir,"  returned  the  captain. 
"I  never  heard  of  a  crew  that  meant  to  mutiny  but 
what  showed  signs  before,  for  any  man  that  had  an 
eye  in  his  head  to  see  the  mischief  and  take  steps  ac- 
cording.   But  this  crew,"  he  added,  "beats  me." 

"Captain,"  said  the  doctor,  "with  your  permission, 
that's  Silver.    A  very  remarkable  man." 

"He'd  look  remarkably  well  from  a  yard-arm,  sir,'* 
returned  the  captain.  "But  this  is  talk;  this  don't  lead 
to  anything.  I  see  three  or  four  points,  and  with  Mr. 
Trelawney's  permission  I'll  name  them." 

"You,  sir,  are  the  captain.  It  is  for  you  to  speak," 
says  Mr.  Trelawney,  grandly. 

"First  point,"  began  Mr.  Smollett.  "We  must  go  on 
because  we  can't  turn  back.  If  I  give  the  word  to 
turn  about  they  would  rise  at  once.  Second  point,  we 
have  time  before  us — at  least  until  this  treasure's 
found.  Third  point,  there  are  faithful  hands.  Now, 
sir,  it's  got  to  come  to  blows  sooner  or  later;  and  what 
I  propose  is  to  take  time  by  the  forelock,  as  the  say- 
ing is,  and  come  to  blows  some  fine  day  when  they 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 

expect  it.   We  can  count,  I  take  it,  en  your 
home  servants,  Mr.  Trelawney?" 

"As  upon  myself,"  declared  the  squire. 

"Three,"  reckoned  the  captain;  "ourselves  make 
seven,  ceunting  Hawkins  here.  Now  about  the  honest 
hands?" 

"Most  likely  Trelawney 's  own  men,"  said  the  doc- 
tor; "these  he  picked  up  for  himself  Before  he  lit  on 
Silver." 

"Nay,"  replied  the  squire.  "Hands  was  one  of 
mine." 

"I  did  think  I  could  have  trusted  Hands,"  added  the 
captain. 

"And  to  think  that  they're  all  Englishmen!"  broke 
out  the  squire.  "Sir,  I  could  find  it  in  my  heart  to 
blow  the  ship  up." 

"Well,  gentlemen,"  said  the  captain,  "the  best  that 
I  can  say  is  not  much.  We  must  lay  to,  if  you  please, 
and  keep  a  bright  lookout.  It's  trying  on  a  man,  I 
know.  It  would  be  pleasanter  to  come  to  blews.  But 
there's  no  help  for  it  till  we  know  our  men.  Lay  to, 
and  whistle  for  a  wind,  that*s  my  view." 

"Jim  here/'  said  the  doctor,  "can  help  us  more  than 
any  one.  The  men  are  not  shy  with  him,  and  Jim  is 
a  noticing  lad." 

"Hawkins,  I  put  prodigious  faith  in  you,"  added  the 
squire. 

I  began  to  feel  pretty  desperate  at  this,  for  1  felt 
altogether  helpless;  and  yet,  by  an  odd  train  of  cir- 
cumstances, it  was  indeed  through  me  that  safety 
came.  In  the  meantime,  talk  as  we  pleased,  there  were 
only  seven  out  of  the  twenty-six  on  whom  we  knew 
we  could  rely;  and  out  of  these  seven  one  was  a  boy, 
so  that  the  grown  men  on  our  side  were  six  to  their 
«ineteen 


PftRT  III. 
IT  SHORE  ADVENTURE. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HOW  I  BEGAN  MY   SHORE   ADVENTURE. 

The  appearance  of  the  island  when  I  came  en  deck 
next  morning  was  altogether  changed.  Although  the 
breeze  had  new  utterly  failed,  we  had  made  a  great 
deal  of  way  during  the  night,  and  were  now  lying 
becalmed  about  half  a  mile  to  the  southwest  of  the 
low  eastern  coast.  Gray-colored  woods  covered  a  large 
part  of  the  surface.  This  even  tint  was  indeed  broken 
up  by  streaks  of  yellow  sand-break  in  the  lower  lands, 
and  by  many  tall  trees  of  the  pine  family,  out-topping 
the  others — some  singly,  some  in  clumps;  but  the  gen- 
eral coloring  was  uniform  and  sad.  The  hills  ran  up 
clear  above  the  vegetation  in  spires  of  naked  rock. 
All  were  strangely  shaped,  and  the  Spy-glass,  which 
was  by  three  or  four  hundred  feet  the  tallest  on  the 
island,  was  likewise  the  strangest  in  configuration, 
running  up  sheer  from  almost  every  side,  and  then 
suddenly  eut  off  at  the  top  like  a  pedestal  to  put  a 
statue  on. 


86  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

The  "Hispaniola"  was  rolling  scuppers  under  in  the 
ocean  swell.  The  booms  were  tearing  at  the  blocks, 
the  rudder  was  banging  to  and  fro,  and  the  whole  ship 
creaking,  groaning,  and  jumping  like  a  manufactory. 
I  had  to  cling  tight  to  the  backstay,  and  the  world 
turned  giddily  before  my  eyes-  for  though  I  was  a 
good  enough  sailor  when  there  was  way  on,  this  stand- 
ing still  and  being  rolled  about  like  a  bottle  was  a 
thing  I  never  learned  to  stand  without  a  qualm  or 
so,  above  all  in  the  morning,  on  an  empty  stomach. 

Perhaps  it  was  this — perhaps  it  was  the  look  of  the 
island,  with  its  gray,  melancholy  woods,  and  wild 
stone  spires,  and  the  surf  that  we  could  both  see  and 
hear  foaming  and  thundering  on  the  steep  beach — at 
least,  although  the  sun  shone  bright  and  hot,  and  the 
shore  birds  were  fishing  and  crying  all  around  us,  and 
you  would  have  thought  any  one  would  have  been 
glad  to  get  to  land  after  being  so  long  at  sea,  my  heart 
sunk,  as  the  saying  is,  into  my  boots;  and  from  that 
first  look  onward,  I  hated  the  very  thought  of  Treasure 
Island.  _ 

We  had  a  dreary  morning's  work  before  us,  for 
there  was  no  sign  of  any  wind,  and  the  boats  had  to  be 
got  out  and  manned,  and  the  ship  warped  three  or  four 
miles  round  the  corner  of  the  island,  and  up  the  nar- 
row passage  to  the  haven  behind  Skeleton  Island.  I 
volunteered  for  one  of  the  boats,  where  I  had,  of 
course,  no  business.  The  heat  was  sweltering,  and 
the  men  grumbled  fiercely  over  their  work.  Ander- 
son was  in  command  of  my  boat,  and  instead  of  keep- 
ing the  crew  in  order,  he  grumbled  as  loud  as  the 
worst 

"Well,"  he  said,  with  an  oath,  "it's  not  forever." 

I  thought  this  was  a  very  bad  sign;  for,  up  to  that 
day,  the  men  had  gone  briskly  and  willingly  about 
their  business;  but  the  very  sight  of  the  island  had  Te* 
laxed  the  cords  of  discipline. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  & 

All  the  way  in,  Long  John  stood  by  the  steersman 
and  conned  the  ship.  He  knew  the  passage  like  the 
|>alm  of  his  hand;  and  though  the  man  in  the  chains 
got  everywhere  more  water  than  was  down  in  the 
chart,  John  never  hesitated  once. 

"There's  a  strong  scour  with  the  ebb,"  he  said,  "and 
this  here  passage  has  been  dug  out,  in  a  manner  of 
speaking,  with  a  spade." 

We  brought  up  just  where  the  anchor  was  in  the 
chart,  about  a  third  of  a  mile  from  either  shore,  the 
mainland  on  one  side,  and  Skeleton  Island  on  the 
other.  The  bottom  was  clean  sand.  The  plunge  of  our 
anchor  sent  up  clouds  of  birds  wheeling  and  crying 
over  the  woods;  but  in  less  than  a  minute  they  were 
all  down  again,  and  all  was  once  more  silent. 

The  place  was  entirely  land-locked,  buried  in 
woods,  the  trees  coming  right  down  to  high  water 
mark,  the  shores  mostly  flat,  and  the  hill-tops  stand- 
ing round  at  a  distance  in  a  sort  of  amphitheater,  one 
here,  one  there.  Two  little  rivers,  or,  rather,  two 
swamps,  emptied  out  into  this  pond,  as  you  might  call 
it;  and  the  foliage  round  that  part  of  the  shore  had  a 
kind  of  poisonous  brightness.  From  the  ship,  we 
could  see  nothing  of  the  house  or  stockade,  for  they 
were  quite  buried  among  trees ;  and  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  chart  on  the  companion,  we  might  have  been 
the  first  that  had  ever  anchored  there  since  the  island 
arose  out  of  the  seas. 

There  was  not  a  breath  of  air  moving,  nor  a  sound 
but  that  of  the  surf  booming  half  a  mile  away  along  the 
beaches  and  against  the  rocks  outside.  A  peculiar 
stagnant  smell  hung  over  the  anchorage — a  smell  of 
sodden  leaves  and  rotten  tree  trunks.  I  observed  the 
doctor  sniffing,  and  sniffing,  like  some  one  tasting  a 
bad  egg. 


8ft  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

If  the  conduct  of  the  men  had  been  alarming  in  the 
boat,  it  became  truly  threatening  when  they  liad  come 
aboard.  They  lay  about  the  deck  growling  together 
in  talk.  The  slightest  order  seas  received  with  a  black 
look,  and  grudgingly  and  carelessly  obeyed.  Even  the 
honest  hands  must  have  caught  the  infection,  for  there 
was  net  one  man  aboard  to  mend  another.  Mutiny; 
it  was  plain,  hung  over  us  like  a  thunder-cloud. 

And  it  was  not  only  we  of  the  cabin  party  who  per- 
ceived the  danger.  Long  John  was  hard  at  work  go- 
ing frem  greup  to  group,  spending  himself  in  good 
advice,  aad  as  for  example  no  man  could  have  shown 
a  better.  He  fairly  outstripped  himself  in  willing- 
ness and  civility;  he  was  all  smiles  to  every  one.  If 
an  order  were  given,  John  would  be  on  his  crutch  in 
an  instant,  with  the  cheeriest  "Ay,  ay,  sir!"  in  the 
world;  and  when  there  was  nothing  else  to  do,  he  kept 
up  one  song  after  another,  as  if  to  conceal  the  dis- 
content of  the  rest. 

Of  all  the  gloomy  features  of  that  gloomy  afternoon, 
this  obvious  anxiety  on  the  part  of  Long  John  ap- 
peared the  worst. 

We  held  a  council  in  the  cabin. 

"Sir,"  said  the  captain,  "if  I  risk  anether  order,  the 
whole  ship'll  come  about  our  ears  by  the  run.  You 
see,  sir,  here  it  is.  I  get  a  rough  answer,  do  I  not? 
Well,  if  I  speak  back,  pikes  will  be  going  in  two 
shakes;  if  I  don't  Silver  will  see  there's  something  un- 
der that,  and  the  game's  up.  Now,  we've  only  one 
man  to  rely  on." 

"And  who  is  that?"  asked  the  squire. 

"Silver,  sir,"  returned  the  captain;  "he's  as  anxious 
as  you  and  I  to  smother  things  up.  This  is  a  tiff;  he'd 
soon  talk  'em  out  of  it  if  he  had  the  chance,  and  what 
I  propose  to  do  is  to  give  him  the  chance.  Let's  allow 
the  men  an  afternoon  ashore.  If  they  all  go,  why, 
we'll  fight  the  ship.    If  they  none  of  them  go,  well, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  89 

then,  we  hold  the  cabin,  and  God  defend  the  right. 
If  some  go,  you  mark  my  words,  sir,  Silver'll  bring 
'em  aboard  again  as  mild  as  lambs." 

It  was  so  decided;  loaded  pistols  were  served  out  to 
all  the  sure  men;  Hunter,  Joyce,  and  Redruth  were 
taken  into  our  confidence,  and  received  the  news  with 
less  surprise  and  a  better  spirit  than  we  had  looked 
for,  and  then  the  captain  went  on  deck  and  addressed 
the.  crew, 

"My  lads,"  said  he,  "we've  had  a  hot  day,  and  are  all 
tired  and  out  of  sorts.  A  turn  ashore'll  hurt  nobody— 
the  boats  are  still  in  the  water;  you  can  take  the  gigs, 
and  as  many  a®  please  can  go  ashore  for  the  afternoon. 
I'll  fire  a  gun  half  an  hour  before  sun-down." 

I  believe  the  silly  fellows  must  have  thought  they 
would  break  their  shins  over  the  treasure  as  soon  as 
they  were  landed;  for  they  all  came  out  of  their  sulks 
in  a  moment,  and  gave  a  cheer  that  started  the  echo 
in  a  far-away  hill,  and  sent  the  birds  once  more  flying 
and  squalling  round  the  anchorage. 

The  captain  was  too  bright  to  be  in  the  way.  He 
whipped  out  of  sight  in  a  moment,  leaving  Silver  to 
arrange  the  party;  and  I  fancy  it  was  as  well  he  did 
so.  Had  he  been  on  deck,  he  could  no  longer  so  much 
as  have  pretended  not  to  understand  the  situation.  It 
was  as  plain  as  day.  Silver  was  the  captain,  and  a 
mighty  rebellious  crew  he  had  of  it.  The  honest  hands 
— and  I  was  soon  to  see  it  proved  that  there  were  such 
on  board — must  have  been  very  stupid  fellows.  Or, 
rather,  I  suppose  the  truth  was  this:  that  all  hands 
Were  disaffected  by  the  example  of  the  ringleaders — 
only  some  more,  some  less;  and  a  few,  being  good  fel- 
lows in  the  main,  could  neither  be  led  nor  driven  any 
further.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  idle  and  skulk,  and 
quite  another  to  take  a  ship  and  murder  a  number  of 
tAnojcent  men. 

At  fastr  however,  the  party  was  made  up.    Six  fel- 


90  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

lows  were  to  stay  on  board,  and  the  remaining  thir* 
teen,  including  Silver,  began  to  embark. 

Then  it  was  that  there  came  into  my  head  the  first 
of  the  mad  notions  that  contributed  so  much  to  save 
our  lives.  If  six  men  were  left  by  Silver,  it  was  plain 
<jur  party  could  not  take  and  fight  the  ship:  and  since 
only  six  were  left,  it  was  equally  plain  that  the  cabin 
party  had  no  present  need  of  my  assistance.  It  oc- 
curred to  me  at  once  to  go  ashore.  In  a  jiffy  I  had 
slipped  over  the  side,  and  curled  up  in  the  fore-sheets 
of  the  nearest  boat,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment 
she  shoved  off. 

No  one  took  notice  of  me,  only  the  bow  oar  saying, 
"Is  that  you,  Jim?  Keep  your  head  down."  But  Sil- 
ver, from  the  other  boat,  looked  sharply  over  and 
called  out  to  know  if  that  were  me;  and  from  that 
moment  I  began  to  regret  what  I  had  done. 

The  crews  raced  for  the  beach;  but  the  boat  I  was 
in,  having  some  start,  and  being  at  once  the  lighter 
and  the  better  manned,  shot  far  ahead  of  her  consort, 
and  the  bow  had  struck  among  the  shore-side  trees, 
and  I  had  caught  a  branch  and  swung  myself  out,  and 
plunged  into  the  nearest  thicket,  while  Silver  and  the 
rest  were  still  a  hundred  yards  behind. 

"Jim,  Jim!"  I  heard  him  shouting. 

But  you  may  suppose  I  paid  no  heed;  jumping*  duck- 
ing, and  breaking  through,  I  ran  straight  be£o*$  my, 
nose,  till  I  could  run  no  longer. 


TREASURE  ISLAND*, 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  FIRST   BLOW.. 

I  was  so  pleased  at  having  given  the  slip  to  Long 
John,  that  I  began  to  enjoy  myself  and  look  around 
me  with  some  interest  on  the  strange  land  that  I 
was  in. 

I  had  crossed  a  marshy  tract  full  of  willows,  bul- 
rushes, and  odd,  outlandish,  swampy  trees;  and  I  had 
now  come  out  upon  the  skirts  of  an  open  piece  of 
undulating,  sandy  country,  about  a  mile  long,  dotted 
with  a  few  pines,  and  a  great  number  of  contorted 
trees,  not  unlike  the  oak  in  growth,  but  pale  in  the 
foliage,  like  willows.  On  the, far  side  of  the  open 
stood  one  of  the  hills,  with  two  quaint,  craggy  peaks, 
shining  vividly  in  the  sun. 

I  now  felt  for  the  first  time  the  joy  of  exploration. 
The  isle  was  uninhabited;  my  shipmates  I  had  left 
behind,  and  nothing  lived  in  front  of  me  but  dumb 
brutes  and  fowls.  I  turned  hither  and  thither  among 
the  trees.  Here  and  there  were  flowering  plants,  un- 
known to  me;  here  and  there  I  saw  snakes,  and  one 
raised  his  head  from  a  ledge  of  a  rock  and  hissed  at 
me  with  a  noise  not  unlike  the  spinning  of  a  top. 
Little  did  I  suppose  that  he  was  a  deadly  enemy,  and 
that  the  noise  was  the  famous  rattle. 

Then  I  came  to  a  long  thicket  of  these  oak-like  trees 

\ 


n  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

—live,  or  evergreen,  oaks,  I  heard  afterward  they 
should  be  called— which  grew  low  along  the  sand  like 
brambles,  the  boughs  curiously  twisted-,  the  foliage 
compact,  like  thatch.  The  thicket  stretched  down 
from  the  top  one  of  the  sandy  knolls,  spreading  and 
growing  taller  as  it  went,  until  it  reached  the  margin 
of  the  broad>  reedy  fen,  through  which  the  nearest  of 
the  little  rivers  soaked  its  way  into  the  anchorage. 
The  marsh  was  steaming  in  the  strong  sun,  and  the 
outline  of  the  Spy-glass  trembled  through  the  haze. 

All  at  once  there  began  to  go  a  sort  of  bustle  among 
the  bulrushes;  a  wild  duck  flew  up  with  a  quack,  an- 
other followed,  and  soon  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
marsh  a  great  cloud  of  birds  hung  screaming  and  cir- 
cling in  the  air.  I  judged  at  once  that  some  of  my 
shipmates  must  be  drawing  near  along  the  borders 
of  the  fen.  Nor  was  I  deceived;  for  soon  I  heard  the 
very  distant  and  low  tones  of  a  human  voice,  which, 
is  I  continued  to  give  ear,  grew  steadily  louder  and 
nearer. 

This  put  me  in  great  fear,  and  I  crawled  under  cover 
of  the  nearest  live-oak,  and  squatted  there,  hearken- 
ing, as  silent  as  a  mouse. 

Another  voice  answered;  and  then  the  first  voice, 
which  I  now  recognized  to  be  Silver's,  once  more  took 
up  the  story,  and  ran  on  for  a  long  while  in  a  stream, 
only  now  and  again  interrupted  by  the  other.  By  the 
sound  they  must  have  been  talking  earnestly,  and  al- 
most fiercely;  but  no  distinct  word  came  to  my 
hearing. 

At  last  the  speakers  seemed  to  have  paused,  and 
perhaps  to  have  sat  down;  for  not  only  did  they  cease 
to  draw  any  nearer,  but  the  birds  themselves  began 
to  grow  more  quiet,  and  to  settle  again  to  their  places 
in  the  swamp. 

And  now  I  began  to  feel  that  I  was  neglecting  my 
business;  that  since  I  had  been  so  foolhardy  as  to 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  33 

ashore  with  these  desperadoes,  the  least  I  could 
do  was  to  overhear  them  at  their  councils;  and  that 
my  plain  aad  obvious  duty  was  to  draw  as  close  as  I 
could  manage,  under  the  favorable  ambush  of  the 
crouching  trees. 

I  could  tell  the  direction  of  the  speakers  pretty  ex- 
actly, not  only  by  the  sound  of  their  voices*  but  by  the 
behavior  of  the  few -birds  that  still  hung  in  alarm 
above  the  heads  of  the  intruders. 

Crawling  oa  all-fours,  I  made  steadily  but  slowly 
toward  them:  till  at  last,  raising  my  head 4©  an  aper- 
ture among  the  leaves,  I  could  see  clear  down  into  a 
little  green  (tell  beside  the  marsh,  and  closely  set  about 
the  trees,  where  Long  John  Silver  and  another  of  the 
crew  stood  faoe  to  face  in  conversation. 

The  sna  beat  full  upon  them.  Silver  had  thrown 
his  hat  beside  him  on  the  ground,  and  his  great, 
smooth,  blonde  face,  all  shining  with  heat,  was  lifted 
to  the  other  man's  in  a  kind  of  appeal. 

"Mate,"  he  was  saying,  "it's  because  I  thinks  gold- 
dust  of  you— ©old-dust,  and  you  may  lay  to  that!  If  I 
hadn't  took  to  you  like  pitch,  do  you  think  I'd  have 
been  herea-wasrniag  of  you?  All's  up — you  can't  make 
nor  mend;  it's  to  save  your  neck  that  I'm  a-speaking, 
aad  if  on*  of  the  wild  'uns  knew  it,  where  'ud  I  be, 
Tom— now,  tell  me,  where  'ud  I  be?" 

"Silver,"  said  the  other  man — and  I  observed  he 
Was  not  only  red  in  the  face,  but  spoke  as  hoarse  as  a 
crow,  and  his  voice  shook,  too,  like  a  taut  rope — "Sil- 
ver," says  he,  "you're  old,  and  you're  honest,  or  has 
the  name  for  it;  and  you've  money,  too,  which  lots  of 
poor  sailors  hasn't;  and  you're  brave,  or  I'm  mistook. 
And  will  you  tell  me  you'll  let  yourself  be  led  away 
with  that  kind  of  a  mess  of  swabs?  notrou!  As  sure 
as  God  sees  me,  I'd  sooner  lose  my  hand.  If  I  turn 
agin  my  dooty— " 

And  then  all  of  a  sudden  he  was  interrupted  by  a 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 

I  had  found  one  of  the  honest  hands— well,  here 
at  that  same  moment,  came  news  of  another.  Far 
away  out  in  the  marsh  there  arose,  all  of  a  sudden,  a 
sound  like  the  cry  of  anger,  then  another  on  the  back 
of  it;  and  then  one  horrid,  long-drawn  scream.  The 
rocks  of  the  Spy-glass  re-echoed  it  a  score  of  times; 
the  whole  troop  of  marsh-birds  rose  again,  darkening 
heaven,  with  a  simultaneous  whir;  and  long  after  that 
death  yell  was  still  ringing  in  my  brain,  silence  had 
re-established  its  empire,  and  only  the  rustle  of  the 
re-descending  birds  and  the  boom  of  the  distant 
surges  disturbed  the  languor  of  the  afternoon. 

Tom  had  leaped  at  the  sound  like  a  horse  at  the 
spur;  but  Silver  had  not  winked  an  eye.  He  stood 
where  he  was,  resting  lightly  on  his  crutch,  watching 
his  companion  like  a  snake  about  to  spring. 

"John!"  said  the  sailor,  stretching  out  his  hand. 

"Hands  off!"  cried  Silver,  leaping  back  a  yard,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  with  the  speed  and  security  of  a  trained 
gymnast. 

"Hands  off,  if  you  like,  John  Silver,"  said  the  other. 
*'It*s  a  black  conscience  that  can  make  you  feared  of 
me.    But,  in  Heaven's  name,  tell  me  what  was  that?" 

"That,"  returned  Silver,  smiling  away,  but  warier 
than  ever,  his  big  eye  a  mere  pin-point  in  his  big  face, 
but  gleaming  like  a  crumb  of  glass.  "That?  Oh,  I 
reckon  that'll  be  Alan." 

And  at  this  poor  Tom  flashed  out  like  a  hero. 

"Alan!"  he  cried.  "Then  rest  his  soul  for  a  true  sea- 
man! And  as  for  you,  John  Silver,  long  you've  been  a 
mate  of  mine,  but  you're  mate  of  mine  no  more.  If  I 
die  like  a  dog,  I'll  die  in  my  dooty.  You've  killed  Alan, 
have  you?   Kill  me,  too,  if  you  can.    But  I  defies  you." 

And  with  Mh&%  this  brave  fellow  turned  his  back 
^irecttjr  on  ine  cook,  and  set  off  walking  for  the  beach. 
Bat  he  was  not  destined  to  go  far.  With  a  cry,  John 
38&ed  the  branch  of  a  tree,  whipped  the  crutch  out  of 


mBASUBE  islani*  m 

fete  annpii,  and  sent  that  uncouth  missile  onrlling 
through  the  air.  It  struck  poor  Tom,  point  foremost, 
and  with  stunning  violence,  right  between  the  shoul- 
ders in  the  middle  of  his  back.  His  hands  Sew  up,  he 
gave  a  sort  of  gasp,  and  fell. 

Whether  he  was  injured  much  or  little,  none  could 
ever  tell.  Like  enough,  to  judge  from  the  sound,  his 
back  was  broken  on  the  spot.  But  he  hag  no  time 
given  him  to  recover.  Silver,  agile  as  a  monkey,  even 
without  leg  or  crutch,  was  on  the  top  of  him  next  mo- 
ment, and  had  twice  buried  his  knife  up  to  the  hilt  in 
that  defenseless  body.  From  my  place  of  amfeush,  I 
could  hear  him  pant  aloud  as  he  struck  the  blows. 

I  do  not  know  what  it  rightly  is  to  faint,  but  I  do 
know  that  for  the  next  little  while  the  whole  world 
swam  away  from  before  me  in  a  whirling  mist;  Silver 
and  the  birds,  and  the  tall  Spy-glass  hill-top,  going 
round  and  round  and  topsy-turvy  before  my  eyes,  and 
all  manner  of  bells  ringing  and  distant  voices  shout* 
inginmyear. 

When  I  came  agate  to  myself,  the  monster  had 
pulled  himself  together,  his  crutch  under  his  arm,  his 
hat  upon  his  head.  Just  before  him  Tom  lay  motion- 
less upon  the  sward;  but  the  murderer  minded  him 
fiot  a  whit,  cleansing  his  blood-stained  knife  the  while 
upon  a  wisp  of  grass.  Everything  else  was  un- 
changed, the  sun  still  shining  mercilessly  on  the 
steaming  marsh  and  the  tall  pinnacle  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  I  could  scarce  persuade  myself  that  murder 
had  actually  been  done,  and  a  human  life  cruelly  cut 
short  a  moment  since,  before  my  eyes. 

But  now  John  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  brought 
out  a  whistle,  and  blew  upon  it  several  modulated 
blasts,  that  rang  far  across  the  heated  air.  I  could 
not  tell,  of  course,  the  meaning  of  the  signal;  but  it 
instantly  awoke  my  fears.  More  men  would  be  com- 
ing.   I  might  be  discovered.    They  had  already  slain 


91  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

two  of  the  honest  people;  after  Tom  and  Alan,  might 
not  I  come  next? 

Instantly  I  began  to  extricate  myself  and  crawl  back 
again,  with  what  speed  and  silence  I  could  manage,  to 
the  more  open  portion  of  the  wood.  As  I  did  so,  I 
could  hear  hails  coming  and  going  between  the  old 
buccaneer  and  his  comrades,  and  this  sound  of  danger 
lent  me  wings.  As  soon  as  I  was  clear  of  the  thicket, 
I  ran  as  I  never  ran  before,  scarce  minding  the  direc- 
tion of  my  flight,  so  long  as  it  led  me  from  the  mur- 
derers; and  as  I  ran,  fear  grew  and  grew  upon  me; 
until  it  turned  into  a  kind  of  frenzy. 

Indeed,  could  any  one  be  more  entirely  lost  than  I? 
When  the  gun  fired,  how  should  I  dare  to  go  down  to 
the  boats  among  those  fiends,  still  smoking  from  their 
crime?  Would  not  the  first  of  them  who  saw  me  wring 
my  neck  like  a  snipe's?  Would  not  my  absence  itself 
be  an  evidence  to  them  of  my  alarm,  and  therefore  of 
my  fatal  knowledge?  It  was  all  over,  I  thought.  Good- 
bye to  the  "Hispaniola;'^ good-bye  to  the  squire,  the 
doctor,  and  the  captain.  There  was  nothing  left  for 
me  but  death  by  starvation,  or  death  by  the  hands  of 
the  mutineers. 

All  this  while,  as  I  say,  I  was  still  running,  and, 
without  taking  any  notice,  I  had  drawn  near  to  the 
foot  of  the  little  hill  with  the  two  peaks,  and  had 
got  into  a  part  of  the  island  where  the  wild  oaks  grew 
more  widely  apart,  and  seemed  more  like  forest  trees 
in  their  bearing  and  dimensions.  Mingled  with  these 
were  a  few  scattered  pines,  some  fifty,  some  nearer 
seventy,  feet  high.  The  air,  too,  smelled  more  freshly 
than  down  beside  the  marsh. 

And  here  a  fresh  alarm  brought  me  to  a  s*ST^-stfcH 
with  a  thumping  heart 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   MAN   OF   THE   ISLAND, 

From  the  side  of  the  hill,  which  was  here  steep  aa£t 
stony,  a  spout  of  gravel  was  dislodged,  and  fell  rat- 
tling and  bounding  through  the  trees.  My  eyes  turned 
instinctively  in  that  direction,  and  I  saw  a  figure  leap 
with  great  rapidity  behind  the  trunk  of  a  pine.  What 
it  was,  whether  bear  or  man  or  monkey,  I  could  in  no 
wise  tell.  It  seemed  dark  and  shaggy;  more  I  knei 
not.  But  the  terror  of  this  new  apparition  brought 
me  to  a  stand. 

I  was  now,  it  seemed,  cut  off  upon  both  sides;  behind 
me  the  murderers,  before  me  this  lurking  nondescript. 
And  immediately  I  began  to  prefer  the  dangers  that  I 
knew  to  those  I  knew  not.  Silver  himself  appeared 
less  terrible  in  contrast  with  this  creature  of  the 
woods,  and  I  turned  on  my  heel,  and,  looking  sharply 
behind  me  over  my  shoulder,  began  to  retrace  my 
steps  in  the  direction  of  the  boats. 

Instantly  the  figure  reappeared,  and,  making  a  wide 
curcuit,  began  to  head  me  off.  I  was  tired,  at  any  rate; 
but  had  I  been  as  fresh  as  when  1  rose,  I  could  see  it 
was  in  vain  for  me  to  contend  in  speed  with  such  an 
adversary.  From  trunk  to  trunk  the  creature  flitted 
like  a  deer,  running  man-like  on  two  legs,  but  unlike 
any  man  that  I  had  ever  seen,  stooping  almost  double 


U  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

as  it  HmL  Yet  a  man  it  was,  I  could  no  longer  be  111 
doubt  about  that. 

I  began  to  recall  what  I  had  heard  of  cannibals.  I 
was  within  an  ace  of  calling  for  help.  But  the  mere 
fact  that  he  was  a  man,  however  wild,  had  somewhat 
reassured  me,  and  my  fear  of  Silver  began  to  revive 
in  proportion.  I  stood  still,  therefore,  and  cast  about 
for  some  method  of  escape;  and  as  I  was  so  thinking, 
the  recollection  of  my  pistol  flashed  into  my  mind.  As 
soon  as  I  remembered  I  was  not  defenseless,  courage 
glowed  again  in  my  heart;  and  I  set  my  face  resolutely 
for  this  man  of  the  island,  and  walked  briskly  toward 
him. 

He  was  concealed  by  this  time,  behind  another  tree 
trunk;  but  he  must  have  been  watching  me  closely, 
for  as  soon  as  I  began  to  move  in  his  direction  he  reap- 
peared and  took  a  step  to  meet  me.  Then  he  hesi- 
tated, drew  back,  came  forward  again,  and  at  last,  to 
my  wonder  and  confusion,  threw  himself  on  his  knees 
and  held  out  his  clasped  hands  in  supplication. 

At  that  I  once  more  stopped. 

"Who  are  you?"  I  asked. 

"Ben  Gunn,"  he  answered,  and  his  voice  sounaeu 
hoarse  and  awkward,  like  a  rusty  lock.  "I'm  poor  Ben 
Gunn,  I  am;  and  I  haven't  spoke  with  a  Christian 
these  three  years." 

I  could  now  see  that  he  was  a  white  man  like  myself, 
and  that  his  features  were  even  pleasing.  His  skin, 
wherever  it  was  exposed,  was  burned  by  the  sun;  even 
his  lips  were  black,  and  his  fair  eyes  looked  quite 
startling  in  so  dark  a  face.  Of  all  the  beggar-men 
that  I  had  seen  or  fancied,  he  was  the  chief  for  rag- 
gedness.  He  was  clothed  with  tatters  of  old  ship's 
canvas  and  old  sea-cloth;  and  this  extraordinary 
patchwork  was  all  held  together  by  a  system  of  the 
*»ost,  vinous  and  incongruous  fastenings,  fr*-»ss  but* 
tons.,  bits  of  stick,  and  loops  of  tarry  gaskin.    About 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  • 

«£s  waist  lie  wore  an  old  brass-buckled  ImShm  belt 
w&ich  was  the  one  thing  solid  in  bis  whpte. accoutre* 
sent. 

"Throe  years!"  I  cried.   "Were  you  shipwrecked V 

"Nay,  mate,"  said  he — "marooned." 

I  had  heard  the  word,  and  I  knew  it  stood  i&r  a  hor« 
rlble  kind  of  punishment  common  enough  among  the 
buccaneers,  in  which  the  offender  is  put  ashore  with 
a  little  powder  and  shot,  and  left  behind  on. some  deso» 
iate  and  distant  island. 

"Marooned  three  years  agone,"  he  continued,  "and 
lived  on  goats  since  then,  and  berries,  and  oysters. 
Wherever  a  man  is,  says  I,  a  man  can  do  for  himself* 
But.  mate,  my  heart  is  sore  for  Christian  diet  You 
mightn'  happen  to  have  a  piece  of  cheese  about  you, 
now?  No?  Well,  many's  the  long  night  I've  dreamed 
of  cheese — toasted,  mostly — and  woke  up  again,  and 
here  I  were." 

"If  ever  I  can  get  aboard  again,**  said  I*  "yc*  shall 
have  cheese  by  the  stone." 

All  this  time  he  had  been  feeling  the  stuff  of  my 
Jacket,  smoothing  my  hands,  looking  at  my  boots,  and 
generally,  in  the  intervals  of  his  speech,  showing  a 
childish  pleasure  in  the  presence  of  a  fellow  ereature. 
But  at  my  last  words  he  perked  up  into  a  Mod  of 
startled  slyness. 

"If  ever  you  get  aboard  again,  says  youf**  %fe  ?©•» 
fgated,    "Why,  now,  who's  to  hinder  you?" 

"Not  you,  I  know,"  was  my  reply. 

"And  right  you  was,"  he  cried*  "Now  p«m— what 
So  you  call  yourself,  mate?" 

"Jim,"  I  told  him. 

"Jim,  Jim,"  says  he,  quite  pleased  apparently. 
"Well,  now,  Jim,  I've  lived  that  rough  as  you'd  be 
ashamed  to  ahear  of.  Now,  for  instance,  yoa  wouldn't 
t&tnk  I  had  had  a  pious  mother—^  losfc  at  m&V9  ht 
astcad, 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

•'Why,  ao,  net  in  particular/'  I  answered. 

"Ah,  well,"  said  he,  "but  I  had— remarkable  ploua. 
And  I  was  a  civil,  pious  boy,  and  could  rattle  off  my 
catechism  that  fast,  as  you  couldn't  tell  one  word  from 
another.  And  here's  what  it  come  to,  Jim,  and  it  be- 
gun with  chuck*farthen  on  the  blessed  grave-stones! 
That's  what  it  begun  with,  but  it  went  further'n  that; 
and  so  my  mother  told  me,  and  predicked  the  whole, 
she  did,  the  pious  woman.  But  it  were  Providence 
that  put  me  here.  I've  thought  it  all  out  in  this  here 
lonely  island,  and  I'm  back  on  piety.  You  can't  catch 
me  tasting  rum  so  much;  but  just  a  thimbleful  for 
luck,  of  course,  the  first  chance  I  have.  I'm  bound  I'll 
be  good,  and  I  see  the  way  to.  And,  Jim" — looking  all 
round  him,  and  lowering  his  voice  to  a  whisper — "I'm 
rich." 

I  now  felt  sure  that  the  poor  fellow  had  gone  crazy 
in  his  solitude,  and  I  suppose  I  must  have  shown  the 
feeling  in  my  face;  for  he  repeated  the  statement 
hotly: 

"Rich !  rich!  I  says.  And  I'll  tell  you  what;  I'll  make 
a  man  of  you,  Jim.  Ah,  Jim,  you'll  bless  your  stars. 
you  will,  yon  was  the  first  that  found  me!" 

And  at  this  there  came  suddenly  a  lowering  shadow 
over  his  face,  and  he  tightened  his  grasp  upon  my 
hand,  and  raised  a  forefinger  threateningly  before  my 
eyes. 

"Now,  Jim,  you  tell  me  true;  that  ain't  Flint's  ship?" 
he  asked. 

At  this  I  had  a  happy  inspiration.  I  began  to  be- 
lieve that  I  had  found  an  ally,  and  I  answered  him  at 
ance. 

"It's  not  Flint's  ship,  and  Flint  is  dead;  but  I'll  tell 
you  true,  as  you  ask  me — there  are  some  of  Flint'! 
Iiands  aboard;  worse  luck  for  the  rest  of  us." 

"Not  a  man— with  one— leg?"  he  gasped. 
Silver?"  I  asked. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  101 

"Ah,  Silver!"  says  he;  "that  were  his  name." 

"He's  the  cook;  and  the  ringleader,  too." 

He  was  still  holding  me  by  the  wrist,  and  at  that  he 
gave  it  quite  a  wring. 

"If  you  was  sent  by  Long  John,"  he  said,  "I'm  as 
good  as  pork,  and  I  know  it.  But  where  was  you,  do 
you  suppose?" 

I  had  made  my  mind  up  in  a  moment,  and  by  way 
Df  answer  told  him  the  whole  story  of  our  voyage,  and 
the  predicament  in  which  we  found  ourselves.  He 
heard  me  with  the  keenest  interest,  and  when  I  had 
done  he  patted  me  on  the  head. 

"You're  a  good  lad,  Jim,"  he  said;  "and  you're  all  in 
a  clove  hitch,  ain't  you?  Well,  you  just  put  your  trust 
in  Ben  Guan— Ben  Gunn's  the  man  to  do  it.  Would 
you  think  it  likely,  now,  that  your  squire  would  prove 
a  liberal-minded  one  in  case  of  help — him  being  in  a 
clove  hitch,  as  you  remark?" 

I  told  him  the  squire  was  the  most  liberal  of  men. 

"Ah,  but  you  see,"  returned  Ben  Gunn,  "I  didn't 
mean  giving  me  a  gate  to  keep,  and  a  suit  of  livery 
clothes,  and  such;  that's  not  my  mark,  Jim.  What  I 
mean  is,  would  he  be  likely  to  come  down  to  the  toon 
of,  san  one  thousand  pounds  out  of  money  that's  as 
good  as  a  man's  own  already?" 

"I  am  surei  he  would,"  said  I.  "As  it  was,  all  hands 
were  to  share." 

"And  a  passage  home?"  he  added,  with  a  look  of 
greatshrewdness. 

"Why,"  I  cried,  "the  squire's  a  gentleman.  And, 
besides,  if  we  got  rid  of  the  others,  we  should  want 
you  to  help  work  the  vessel  home." 

"Ah,"  said  he,  "so  you  would."  And  he  seemed 
very  much  relieved. 

"Now,  I'll  tell  you  what,"  he  went  on.  "So  much 
I'll  tell  you,  and  no  more.  I  were  in  Flint's  ship  whtu 
he  buried  the  treasure;  he  and  six  along — six  strong 


102  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

seamen.  They  was  ashore  nigh  on  a  week,  and  \as 
standing  off  and  on  in  the  old  'Walrus.'  One  fine  day 
up  went  the  signal,  and  here  come  Flint  by  himself 
in  a  little  boat,  and  his  head  done  up  in  a  blue  scarf. 
The  sun  was  getting  up,  and  mortal  white  he  looked 
about  the  cut- water.  But,  there  he  was,  you  mind,  and 
the  six  all  dead — dead  and  buried.  How  had  he  done 
it,  not  a  man  aboard  us  could  make  out.  It  was  battle, 
murder,  and  sudden  death,  leastways — him  against 
six.  Billy  Bones  was  the  mate;  Long  John,  he  was 
quarter-master;  and  they  asked  him  where  the  treas- 
ure was.  'Ah,'  says  he,  'you  can  go  ashore,  if  you 
like,  and  stay,'  he  says;  'but  as  for  the  ship,  she'll 
beat  up  for  more,  by  thunder!'    That's  what  he  said. 

"Well,  I  was  in  another  ship  three  years  back,  and 
we  sfghted  this  island.  'Boys,'  said  I,  'here's  Flint's 
treasure;  let's  land  and  find  it.'  The  cap'n  was  dis- 
pleased at  that;  but  my  messmates  were  all  of' a  mind, 
and  landed.  Twelve  days  they  looked  for  it,  and  every 
day  they  had  the  worse  word  for  me,  until  one  fine 
morning  all  hands  went  aboard.  'As  for  you,  Benja- 
min Gunn,'  says  they,  'here's  a  musket,'  they  says, 
'and  a  spade,  and  pick-ax.  You^can  stay  here,  and 
find  Flint's  money  for  yourself,'  they  says. 

"Well,  Jim,  three  years  have  I  been  here,  and,  not  a 
bite  of  Christian  diet  from  that  day  to  this.  But  now, 
you  look  here;  look  at  me.  Do  I  look  like  a  man  be- 
fore the  mast?  No,  says  you.  Nor  I  weren't,  neither, 
I  says." 

And  with  that  he  winked  and  pinched  me  hard. 

"Just  you  mention  them  words  to  your  squire,  Jim," 
—he  went  on:  "Nor  he  weren't  neither — that's  the 
words,  Three  years  he  Were  the  man  of  this  island, 
light  and  dark,  fair  and  rain;  and  sometimes  he  would, 
maybe,  think  upon  a  prayer  (says  you),  and  sometimes 
he  would,  maybe,  think  of  his  old  mother,  so  be  as 
she's  alive  (you'll  say);  but  the  most  part  of  Gunn*s 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  103 

time  (this  is  what  you'll  say)— the  meat  part  of  his 
time  was  took  up  with  another  matter.  And  then 
you'll  give  him  a  nip,  like  I  do." 

And  he  pinched  me  again  in  the  most  confidential 
manner. 

"Then,"  he  continued— "then  you'll  up,  and  you'll 
say  this:  Gunn  is  a  good  man  (you'll  say)'  and  he  puts 
a  precious  sight  more  confidence— a  precious  sight, 
mind  that — in  a  gen'leman  born  than  in  these  gen'le- 
men  of  fortune,  having  been  one  hisself ." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "I  don't  understand  one  word  that 
you've  been  saying.  But  that's  neither  here  nor 
there;  for  how  am  I  to  get  on  board?" 

"Ah,"  said  he,  "that's  the  hitch  for  sure.  Well, 
there's  my  boat  that  I  made  with  my  two  hands.  I 
keep  her  under  the  white  rock.  If  the  worst  come  to 
the  worst,  we  might  try  that  after  dark.  Hi!"  he 
broke  out,  "what's  that?" 

For  just  then,  although  the  sun  had  still  an  hour  or 
two  to  run,  all  the  echoes  of  the  island'  awoke  and 
bellowed  to  the  thunder  of  a  cannon. 

"They  have  begun  to  fight!"  I  cried.    "Follow  me." 

And  I  began  to  run  toward  the  anchorage,  my  ter- 
rors all  forgotten;  while,  close  at  my  side,  the  ma- 
rooned man  in  his  goatskins  trotted  easily  and  lightly. 

"Left,  left,"  says  he;  "keep  to  your  left  hand,  mate 
Jim!  Under  the  trees  with  you!  There's  where  I 
killed  my  first  goat.  They  don't  come  down  here  now; 
they're  all  mastheaded  on  them  mountings  for  the  fear 
of  Benjamin  Gunn.  Ah!  and  there's  the  cetemery" — 
cemetery  he  must  have  meant.  "You  see  the  mounds? 
I  come  here  and  pray,  nows  and  thens,  when  I  thought 
maybe  a  Sunday  would  be  about  doo.  It  weren't  quite 
a  chapel,  but  it  seemed  more  solemn  like;  and  then, 
says  you,  Ben*  Gunn  was  shorthanded— no  enaplmg, 
nor  so  much  as  a  Bible  and  a  flag,  you  says." 


104  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

So  he  kept  talking  as  I  ran,  neither  expecting  nor 
receiving  any  answer. 

The  cannon-shot  was  followed,  after  a  considerable 
interval,  by  a  volley  of  small  arms. 

Another  pause,  and  then,  not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in 
front  of  me,  I  beheld  the  Union  Jack  flutter  in  the  air 
above  a  wood. 


PART  IV. 
THE  STOCKADE. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

NARKATIVB    CONTINUED    BY     THE     DOCTOR: 
HOW   THE   SHIP  WAS   ABANDONED. 

It  was  about  naif-past  one — three  bells  in  the  sea- 
phrase — that  the  two  boats  went  ashore  from  the  "His- 
paniola."  The  captain,  the  squire,  and  I  were  talking 
matters  oyer  in  the  cabin.  Had  there  been  a  breath  of 
wind,  we  should  have  fallen  on  the  six  mutineers  who 
were  left  aboard  with  us,  slipped  our  cable,  and  away 
to  sea.  But  the  wind  was  wanting;  and,  to  complete 
our  helplessness,  down  came  Hunter  with  the  news 
that  Jim  Hawkins  had  slipped  into  a  boat  and  was 
gone  ashore  with  the  rest. 

It  had  never  occurred  to  us  to  doubt  Jim  Hawkins; 
but  we  were  alarmed  for  his  safety.  With.the  men  in 
the  temper  they  were  in,  it  seemed  an  even  chance  if 
we  should  see  the  lad  again.  We  ran  on  deck.  The 
pitch  was  bubbling  in  the  seams;  the  nasty  stench  of 
the  place  turned  me  sick;  if  ever  a  man  smelled  fever 
and  dysentery,  it  was  in  that  abominable  anchorage. 


106  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

The  six  s^undrels  were  sitting  grumbling  under  a  sail 
in  the  forecastle;  ashore  we  could  see  the  gigs  made 
fast,  and  a  man  sitting  in  each,  hard  by  where  the 
river  runs  in.  One  of  them  was  whistling  "Lillibul- 
lero." 

Waiting  was  a  strain;  and  it  was  decided  that  Hun- 
ter and  I  should  go  ashore  with  the  jolly-boat,  in  quest 
of  information. 

The  gigs  had  leaned  to  their  right;  but  Hunter  and  I 
pulled  straight  in,  iiv  the  direction  of  the  stockade 
upon  the  chart.  The  two  who  were  left  guarding  their 
boats  seemed  in  a  bustle  at  our  appearance;  "Lillibul- 
lero"  stopped  off,  and  I  could  see  the  pair  discussing 
whot  they  ought  to  do.  Had  they  gone  and  told  Sil- 
ver, all  might  have  turned  out  differently;  but  they 
had  their  orders,  I  suppose,  and  decided  to  sit  quietly 
where  they  were  and  hark  back  again  to  "Lillibul- 
lero/' 

There  was  a  slight  bend  in  the  coast,  and  I  steered 
so  as  to  put  it  between  us,  even  before  we  landed  we 
had  thus  lost  sight  of  the  gigs.  I  jumped  out,  and 
came  as  near  running  as  I  durst,  with  a  big  silk  hand- 
kerchief under  my  hat  for  coolness'  sake,  and  a  brace 
of  pistols  ready  primed  for  safety. 

I  had  not  gone  a  hundred  yards  when  I  eame  on 
the  stockade. 

This  was  how  it  was;  a  spring  of  clear  water  rose 
almost  at  the  top  of  a  knoll.  Well,  on  the  knoll,  and 
inclosing  the  spring,  they  had  clapped  a  stout  log- 
house,  fit  to  hold  two  score  people  on  a  pinch,  and 
loop-holed  for  musketry  on  every  side.  All  round  this 
they  had  cleared  a  wide  space,  and  then  the  thing  was 
completed  by  a  paling  six  feet  high,  without  door  or 
opening,  too  strong  to  pull  down  without  time  and 
labor,  and  too  open  to  shelter  the  besiegers.  The  peo- 
ple in  the  log-house  had  them  in  every  way;  they  stood 
quiet  in  shelter  and  shot  the  others  like  partridges. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  10? 

All  they  wanted  was  a  good  watch  and  fooa,  ror,  short 
of  a  complete  surprise,  they  might  have  held  the  place 
against  a  regiment. 

What  particularly  took  my  fancy  was  the  spring. 
For,  though  we  had  a  good  enough  place  of  it  in  the 
cabin  of  the  "Hispaniola,"  with  plenty  of  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  things  to  eat,  and  excellent  wines, 
there  had  been  one  thing  overlooked — we  had  no 
water.  I  was  thinking  this  over,  when  there  came 
ringing  over  the  island  the  cry  of  a  man  at  the  point 
of  death.  I  was  not  new  to  violent  death — I  have 
served  his  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
and  got  a  wound  myself  at  Fontency — but  I  know  my 
pulse  went  dot  and  carry  one.  "Jim  Hawkins  is  gone," 
was  my  first  thought. 

It  is  something  to  have  been  an  old  soldier,  but  more 
still  to  have  been  a  doctor.  There  is  no  time  to  dilly- 
dally in  our  work.  And  so  now  I  made  up  my  mind 
instantly,  and  with  no  time  lost  returned  to  the  shore, 
and  jumped  on  board  the  jolly-boat. 

By  good  fortune  Hunter  pulled  a  good  oar.  We  made 
the  water  fly;  and  the  boat  was  soon  alongside,  and  I 
aboard  the  schooner. 

I  found  them  all  shaken,  as  was  natural.  The  squire 
was  sitting  down,  as  white  as  a  sheet,  thinking  of  the 
harm  he  had  led  us  to,  the  good  soul!  and  one  of  the 
six  forecastle  hands  was  little  better. 

"There's  a  man,"  said  ^Captain  Smollett,  nodding 
toward  him,  "new  to  this -work.  He  came  nigh-hand 
fainting,  doctor,  when  he  heard  the  cry.  Another 
touch  of  the  rudder  and  that  man  would  join  us." 

I  told  my  plan  to  the  captain,  and  between  us  we  set- 
tled on  the  details  of  its  accomplishment. 

We  put  old  Redruth  in  the  gallery  between  the 
cabin  and  the  forecastle,  with  three  or  four  loaded 
musfeets    and    a    mattress    for    protection.      Hunter 


108  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

brought  the  boat  round  under  the  stem-port,  arid 
Joyce  and  I  set  to  work  loading  her  with  powder  tins, 
muskets,  bags  of  biscuits,  kegs  of  pork,  a  cask  of 
cognac,  and  my  invaluable  medicine  chest. 

In  the  meantime,  the  squire  and  the  captain  stayed 
on'  deck,  and  the  latter  hailed  the  cockswain,  who 
was  the  principal  man  on  board. 

"Mr.  Hands,"  lie  said,  "here  are  two  of  us  with  a 
brace  of  pistols  each.  If  any  of  you  six  make  a 
signal  of  any  description,  that  man's  dead." 

They  were  a  good  deal  taken  aback;  and  after  a  lit- 
tle consultation,  one  and  all  tumbled  down  the  fore 
companion,  thinking,  no  doubt,  to  take  us  on  the  rear. 
But  when  they  saw  Redruth  waiting  for  them  in  the 
sparred  gallery,  they  went  about  ship  at  once,  and  a 
head  popped  out  again  deck. 

"Down,  dog!"  cries  the  captain. 

And  the  head  popped  back  again;  and  we  heard  no 
more,  for  the  time,  of  these  six  very  faint-hearted 
seamen. 

By  this  time,  tumbling  things  in  as  they*  came,  we 
had  the  jolly-boat  loaded  as  much  as  we  dared.  Joyce 
and  I  got  out  through  the  stern  port,  and  we  made  for 
shore  again,  as  fast  as  oars  could  take  us. 

This  second  trip  fairly  aroused  the  watchers  along 
shore.  "Lillibullero"  was  dropped  again;  and  just  be- 
fore we  lost  sight  of  them  behind  the  little  point,  one 
ot  them  whipped  ashore  and  disappeared.  I  had  half 
a  mind  to  change  my  plan  and  destroy  their  boats,  but 
I  feared  that  Silver  and  the  others  might  be  close  at 
hand,  and  all  might  very  well  be  lost  by  trying  for  too 
much. 

We  had  soon  touched  land  in  the  same  place  as  be- 

-  fore,  and  set  to  provision  the  block  house.    All  three 

made  the  first  journey,  heavily  laden,  and  tossed  our 

stores  over  the  palisade.   Then,  leaving  Joyce  to  guard 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  109 

them — one  man,  to  be  sure,  but  with  half  a  dozen  mus- 
kets— Hunter  and  I  returned  to  the  jolly-boat,  and 
loaded  ourselves  once  more.  So  we  proceeded  without 
pausing  to  take  breath,  till  the  whole  cargo  was  be- 
stowed, when  the  two  servants  took  up  their  position 
in  the  block-house,  and  I,  with  all  my  power,  sculled 
back  to  the  "Hispaniola." 

That  we  should  have  risked  a  second  boat  load 
seems  more  dating  than  it  really  was.  They  had  the 
advantage  dt  ^umbers,  of  course,  but  we  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  arms.  Not  one  of  the  men  ashore  had  a 
musket,  and  before  they  could  get  within  range  for 
pistol  shooting,  we  flattered  ourselves  we  should  be 
able  to  give  a  good  account  of  a  half  dozen  at  least. 

The  squire  was  waiting  for  me  at  the  stern  window, 
all  his  faintness  gone  from  him.  He  caught  the 
painter  and  made  it  fast,  and  we  fell  to  loading  the 
boat  for  our  very  lives.  Pork,  powder,  and  biscuit 
was  the  cargo,  with  only  a  musket  and  a  cutlass  apieea 
for  squire  and  me  and  Redruth  and  the  captain.  The 
rest  of  the  arms  and  powder  we  dropped  overboard  in 
two  fathoms  and  a  half  of  water,  so  that  we  could  see 
the  bright  steel  shining  far  below  us  in  the  sun,  on 
the  clean,  sandy  bottom. 

By  this  time  the  tide  was  beginning  to  ebb,  and  the 
ship  was  swinging  round  to  her  anchor.  Voices  were 
heard  faintly  halloing  in  the  direction  of  the  two  gigs*, 
and  though  this  reassured  us  for  Joyce  and  Hunter, 
who  were  well  to  the  eastward,  it  warned  our  party  to 
be  off. 

Redruth  retreated  from  his  place  in  the- gallery,  and 
dropped  into  the  boat,  which  we  then  brought  round 
to  the  ship's  counter,  to  be  handier  for  Captain  Smol- 
lett. 

"Now,  men,"  said,  he,  "do  you  hear  me?" 

There  was  no  answer  from  the  forecastle. 


110  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"It's  to,  you,  Abraham  Gray— it's  to  you  I  am  speak-* 
ing." 

Still  no  reply. 

"Gray,"  resumed  Mi.  Smollett,  a  little  louder,  "I 
am  leaving  this  ship,  and- 1  order  you  to  follow  your 
captain.  I  know  you  are  a  good  man  at  bottom,  and  I 
dare  say  not  one  of  the/  lot  of  you's  as  bad  as  he  makes 
out.  I  have  my  watch  here  in  my  hand;  I  give  you 
thirty  seconds  to  join  me  in." 

There  was  a  pause. 

"Come,  my  fine  fellow,"  continued  the  captain* 
"don't  hang  so  long  in  stays.  I'm  risking  my  life,  and 
the  lives  of  these  good  gentlemen  every  second." 

There  was  a  sudden  scuffle,  a  sound  of  blows,  and 
out  burst  Abraham  Gray  with  a  knife-cut  on  the  side 
of  the  cheek,  and  came  running  to  the  captain,  like  a 
dog  to  iue  whistle. 

"I'm  with  you,  sir,"  said  he. 

And  the  next  moment  he  and  the  captain  had 
dropped  aboard  of  us,  and  we  had  shoved  off  and  given 
way, 

for©  wens  dear  out  of  the  ship;  but  && %&  ashore  in 
our  sWskaae,. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  1H 


v 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

NARRATIVE     CpNTINUED     BY    THE    DOCTOR: 
THE  JOLLY-BOAT'S  LAST  TRIP. 

This  fifth  trip  was  quite  different  from  any  of  the 
others.  In  the  first  place,  the  little  gallipot  of  a  boat 
that  we  were  in  was  gravely  overloaded.  Five  grown 
men,  and  three  of  them — Trelawney,  Redruth,  and  the 
captain — over  six  feet  high,  was  already  more  than 
she  was  meant  to  carry.  Add  to  that  the  powder,  pork, 
and  the  breadbags.  The  gunwale  was  lipping  astern. 
Several  times  we  shipped  a  little  water,  and  my 
breeches  and  the  tails  of  my  coat  were  all  soaking 
wet  before  we  had  gone  a  hundred  yards. 

The  captain  made  us  trim  the  boat,  and  we  got  her 
to  lie  a  little  more  evenly.  All  the  same,  we  were 
afraid  to  breathe. 

In  the  second  place,  the  ebb  was  now  making — a 
strong  rippling  current  running  westward  through  the 
basin,  and  then  south'ard  and  seaward  down  the 
straits  by  which  we  had  entered  in  the  morning.  Even 
the  ripples  were  a  danger  to  our  overloaded  craft;  but 
the  worst  of  it  was  that  we  were  swept  out  of  our  true 
course,  and  away  from  our  proper  landing-place  be- 
hind the  point.  If  we  let  the  current  have  its  way  we 
should  come  ashore  beside  the  gigs,  where  t&e  pirates 
might  appear  at  any  moment. 


112  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"I  cannot  keep  her  head  for  the  stockade,  sir,"  said 
I  to  the  captain.  I  was  steering,  while  he  and  Red- 
ruth, two  fresh  men,  were  at  the  oars.  "The  tide 
keeps  washing  her  down.  Couid  you  pull  a  little 
stronger?" 

"Not  without  swamping  the  boat,"  said  he.  "You 
must  bear  up,  sir,  if  you  please — bear  up  until  you  see 
you're  gaining." 

I  tried,  and  found  by  experiment  that  the  tide  kept 
sweeping  us  westward  until  I  had  laid  her  head  due 
east,  or  just  about  right  angles  to  the  way  we  ought 
to  go. 

"We'll  never  get  ashore  at  this  rate,"  said  I. 

"If  it's  the  only  course  that  we  can  lie,  sir,  we  must 
even  lie  it,"  returned  the  captain.  "We  must  keep 
upstream.  You  see,  sir,"  he  went  on,  "if  once  we 
dropped  to  leeward  of  the  landing-place,  it's  hard  to 
say  where  we  should  get  ashore,  besides  the  Chance 
of  being  boarded  by  the  gigs;  whereas,  the  way  we  go 
the  current  must  slacken,  and  then  we  can  dodge  back 
along  the  shore." 

"The  current's  less  a'ready,  sir,"  said  the  man  Gray, 
who  was  sitting  in  the  fore-sheets;  "you  can  ease  her 
off  a  bit." 

"Thank  you,  my  man^'  said  I,  quite  as  if  nothing 
had  happened;  for  we  had  all  quietly  made  up  our 
minds  to  treat  him  like  one  of  ourselves. 

Suddenly  the  captain  spoke  up  again,  and  I  thought 
his  voice  waci  a  little  changed. 

"The  gun!"  said  he. 

"I  have  thought  of  that,"  said  I,  for  I  made  sure  he 
was  thinking  of  a  bombardment  of  the  fort.  "They 
could  never  get  the  gun  ashore,  and  if  they  did,  they 
could  never  haul  it  through  the  woods." 

"Look  astern,  doctor,"  replied  the  captain. 

We  had  entirely  forgotten  the  long  nine;  and  there, 
to  our  horror,  were  the  five  rogues  busy  about  her,  get- 


TREASURE  ISLAND,  113 

ling  off  her  jacket,  as  they  called  the  stout  tarpaulin 
cover  under  which  she  sailed.  Not  only  that,  but  it 
flashed  into  my  mind  at  the  same  moment  that  the 
round  shot  and  the  powder  for  the  gun  had  been  left 
behind,  and  a  stroke  with  an  ax  would  put  it  all  into 
the  possession  of  the  evil  ones  aboard, 

"Israel  was  Flint's  gunner,"  said  Gray,  hoarsely. 

"At  any  risk,  we  put  the  boat's  head  direct  for  the 
landing-place.  By  this  time  we  had  got  so  far  out  of 
the  run  of  the  current,  that  we  kept  steerage  way  even 
at  our  .necessarily  gentle  rate  of  rowing,  and  I  could 
keep  her  steady  for  the  goal. :  But  the  worst  of  it  was, 
that  with  the  course  I  now  held,  we  turned  our  broad- 
side instead  of  our  stern  to  the  "Hispaniola,"  and  of- 
fered a  target  like  a  barn  door. 

I  could  hear,  as  well  as  see,  that  brandy-faced  ras- 
cal, Israel  Hands,  plumping  down  a  round-shot  on  the 
deck. 

"Who's  the  best  shot?"  asked  the  captain. 

"Mr.  Trelawney,  out  and  away,"  said  I. 

"Mr.  Trelawney,  will  you  please  pick  me  off  one  of 
those  men,  sir?    Hands,  if  posisble,"  said  the  captain. 

Trelawney  was  as  cold  as  steel.  He  looked  to  the 
priming  of  his  gun. 

"Now,"  Cried  the  captain,  "easy  with  that  gun,  sir, 
or  you'll  swamp  the  boat.  All  hands  stand  by  to  trim 
her  when  he  aims." 

The  squire  raised  his  gun,  the  rowing  ceased,  and 
we  leaned  over  to  the  other  side  to  keep  the  balance, 
and  all  was  so  nicely  contrived  that  we  did  not  ship  a 
drop. 

They  had  the  gun,  by  this  time,  slewed  round  upon 
the  swivel,  and  Hands,  who  was  at  the  muzzle  with  the 
rammer,  was,  in  consequence  the  most  exposed.  How- 
ever, we  had  no  luck;  for  just  as  Trelawney  fired, 
down  he  stooped,  the  ball  whistling  over  him,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  other  four,  who  fell. 


114  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

The  cry  lie  gave  was  echoed,  not  only  by  his  com- 
panions on  board,  but  by  a  great  number  of  voices 
from  the  shore,  and  looking  in  that  direction  I  saw  the 
other  pirates  trooping  out  from  among  Xhe  trees  and 
tumbling  into  their  places  in  the  boats. 

"Here  come  the  gigs,  sir,"  said  I. 

"Give  way,  then,"  said  the  captain.  "We  mustn't 
mind  if  we  swamp  her  now.  If  we  can't  get  ashore, 
all's  up." 

"Only  one  of  the  gigs  is  being  manned,  sir,"  I  added, 
"the  crew  of  the  other  most  likely  going  round  by 
shore  to  cut  us  off." 

"They'll  have  a  hot  run,  sir,"  returned  the  captain; 
"Jack  ashore,  you  know.  It's  not  them  I  mind;  it's 
the  round-shot.  Carpet  bowls!  My  lady's  maid 
couldn't  miss.  Tell  us,  squire,  when  you  see  the 
match,  and  we'll  hold  water." 

In  the  meanwhile  we  had  been  making  headway  at 
a  good  pace  for  a  boat  so  overloaded,  and  we  had 
shipped  but  little  water  in  the  process.  We  were  now 
close  in;  thirty  or  forty  strokes  and  we  should  beach 
her;  for  the  ebb  had  already  disclosed  a  narrow  belt  of 
sand  below  the  clustering  trees.  The  gig  was  no  lon- 
ger to  be  feared;  the  little  point  had  already  concealed 
it  from  our  eyes.  The  ebb-tide,  which  had  so  cruelly 
delayed  us,  was  now  making  reparation,  and  delaying 
our  assailants.  The  one  source  of  danger  was  the 
gun. 

"If  I  durst,"  said  the  captain,  "I'd  stop  and  pick  off 
another  man." 

But  it  was  plain  that  they  meant  nothing  should  de- 
lay their  shot.  They  had  never  so  much  as  looked  at 
their  fallen  comrade,  though  he  was  not  dead,  and  I 
could  see  him  trying  to  crawl  away.  , 

"Ready  P'  cried  the  squire. 

"Hold!"  cried  the  captain,  quick  as  an  echo. 

And  he  and  Redruth  backed  with  a  great  Iieave  that 


TREASURE    ISLAND.  113 

sent  her  stern  bodily  under  water.  The  report  fell  in 
at;  the  same  instant  of  time.  This  was  the  first  that 
Jim  heard,  the  sound  of  the  squire's  shot  not  having 
reached  him.  When  the  ball  passed,  not  one  of  us  pre- 
cisely knew;  but  I  fancy  it  must  have  been  over  our 
heads,  and  that  the  wind  of  it  may  have  contributed 
.  to  our  disaster. 

At  any  rate,  the  boat  sunk  by  the  stern,  quite  gen- 
tly, in  three  feet  of  water,  leaving  the  captain  and 
myself,  facing  each  other,  on  our  feet.  The  other  three 
took  complete  headers,  and  came  up  again,  drenched 
and  bubbling. 

So  far  there  was  no  great  harm.  No  lives  were  lost, 
and  we  could  wade  ashore  in  safety.  But  there  were 
all  our  steres  at  the  bottom,  and,  to  make  things 
worse,  only  two  guns  out  of  five  remained  in  a  state 
for  service.  Mine  I  had  snatched  from  my  knees>  and 
held  over  my  head,  by  a  sort  of  instinct.  As  for  the 
captain,  he  had  carried  his  over  his  shoulder  by  a  ban- 
doleer, and,  like  a  wise  man,  lock  uppermost.  The 
other  three  had  gone  down  with  the  boat.  To  add  to 
our  concern,  we  heard  voices  already  drawing  near  us 
in  the  woods  along  shore;  and  we  had  not  only  the 
danger  of  being  cut  off  from  the  stockade  in  our  half- 
crippled  state,  but  the  fear  before  us  whether,  it  Hun- 
ter and  Joyce  were  attacked  by  half  a  dozen,  they 
would  have  the  sense  and  conduct  to  stand  firm.  Hun- 
ter was  steady,  that  we  knew;  Joyce  was  a  doubtful 
case — a  pleasant,  polite  man  for  a  valet,  and  to  brush 
one's  clothes,  but  not  entirely  fitted  for  a  man-of-war. 

With  all  this  in  our  minds,  we  waded  ashore  as  fast 
as  we  could,  leaving  behind  us  the  poor  Jollx>bo«%  and 
a  good  h&U  ©f  air  our  powder  and  provisions. 


LU  TREASURE  ISLANBk 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

NARRATIVE    CONTINUED    BY    THE    DOCTOR? 
END  OF  THE  FIRST  DAY'S  FIGHTINTJ. 

We  made  our  best  speed  -across  the  strip  of  wood 
that  now  divided  us. from  the  stockade;  and  at  every 
step  we  took  the  voices  of  the  buccaneers  rang  nearer. 
Soon  we  could  hear  their  footfalls  as  they  ran,  and  the 
cracking  of  the  branches  as  they  breasted  across  a  bit 
of  thicket. 

I  began  to  see  we  should  have  a  brush  for  it  in  ear- 
nest, and  looked,  to  my  priming. 

"Captain,"  said  I,  "Trelawney  is  the  dead  shot.  Give 
him  your  gun;  his  own  is  useless." 

They  exchanged  guns,  and  Trelawney,  silent  and 
cool  as  he  had:  been  since  the  beginning  of  the  bustle, 
hung  a  moment  on  his  heel  to  see  that  all  was  fit  for 
service.  At  the  same  time,  observing  Gray  to  be  un- 
armed, I  handed  him  my  cutlass.  It  did  all  our  hearts 
good  to  see  him  spit  in  his  hand,  knit  his  brows,  and 
make  the  blade  sing  through  the  air.  It  was  plain 
from  every  line  of  his  body  that  our  new  hand  was 
worth  his  salt. 

Forty  paces  further  we  came  to  the  edge  of  the  wood 
and  saw  the  stockade  in  front  of  us.  We  struck  the 
Inclosure  about  the  middle  of  the  south  side,  and,  al- 
most at  the  same  time,  seven  mutineers — Job  Ander- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  117 

son,  the  boatswain,  at  their  head — appeared  in  full  ery 
at  the  southwestern  corner. 

They  paused,  as  if  taken  aback;  and  before  they 
recovered,  not  only  the  squire  and  I,  but  Hunter  and 
Joyce  from  the  block-house,  had  time  to  fire.  The  four 
shots  came  in  rather  a  scattering  volley ;  but  they  did 
the  business;  one  of  the  enemy  actually  fell,  and  the 
rest,  without  hesitation,  turned  and  plunged  into  the 
trees. 

After  reloading,  we  walked  down  the  outside  of  the 
palisade  to  see  to  the  fallen,  enemy.  He  was  stone  dead 
—shot  through  the  heart. 

We  began  to  rejoice  over  our  good  success,  when  just 
at  that  moment  a  pistol  cracked  in  the  bush,  a  ball 
whistled  close  past  my  ear,  and  poor  Tom  Redruth 
stumbled  and  fellJiis  length  on  the  ground.  Both  the 
squire  and  I  returned  the  shot;  but  as  we  had  nothing 
to  aim  at,  it  is  probable  we  only  wasted  powder.  Then 
we  reloaded,  and  turned  our  attention  to  poor  Tom. 

The  captain  and  Gray  were  already  examining  him, 
and  I  saw  with  half  an  eye  that  ail  was  over. 

I  believe  the  readiness  of  our  return  volley  had  scat- 
tered the  mutineers  once  more,  for  we  were  suffered 
without  further  molestation  to  get  the  poor  old  game* 
keeper  hoisted  over  the  stockade,  agg  carried,  groan- 
ing and  bleeding,  into  the  log-house. 
Poor  old  fellow,  he  had  not  uttered  one  word  of  sur- 
prise, complaint,  fear,  or  even  acquiescence,  from  the 
very  beginning  of  our  troubles  till  now,  when  we  had 
laid  him  down  in  the  log-house  to  die.  He  had  laid 
like  a  Trojan  behind  his  mattress  in  the  gallery;  he 
had  followed  every  order  silently,  doggedly,  and  well; 
ha  was  the  oldest  of  our  party  by  a  score  of  years;  and 
now,  sullen,  old,  serviceable  servant,  it  was  he  that 
was  to  die. 

The  squire  dropped  down  beside  him  on  his  knees, 
and  kissed  his  hand,  crying  like  a  child. 


ilXS  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

"Bel going,  doctor?"  he  asked. 

"S-om,  my  man,"  said  I,  "you're  going  home." 

"I  wish  I  had  had  a  lick  at  them  with  the  gun  ftpst,' 
he  replied. 

"Tom,"  said  the  squire,  "say  you  forgive  me,  won't 
you?" 

"Would  that  be  respectful  like,  from  me  to  you, 
squirel*  was  the  answer.  "Howsoever,  S9  be  H, 
amenP' 

After  a  little  while  of  silence,  he  said  he  thought 
somebody  might  read  a  prayer.  "It's  the  custom,  sir," 
he  added,  apologetically.  And  not  long  after,  witho^*" 
another  word,  he  passed  way. 

In  the  meantime  the  captain,  whom  I  had  observer 
to  be  wonderfully  swollen  about  the  chest  and  pock 
ets,  had  turned  out  a  great  many  various  stores — the 
British  colors,  a  Bible,  a  coil  of  stoutish  rope,  pen,  ink, 
the  log-book,  and  pounds  of  tobacco.  He  had  found  a 
longish  fir-tree  lying  felled  and  cleared  in  the  inclos- 
ure,  and,  with  the  help  of  Hunter,  he  had  set  it  up  at 
the  corner  of  the  log-house  where  the  trunks  crossed 
and  made  an  angle.  Then,  climbing  on  the  roof,  he 
had  with  his  own  hand  bent  and  run  up  the  colors. 

This  seemed  mightily  to  relieve  him.  He  re-entered 
the  log-house,  and  set  about  counting  up  the  stores,  as 
if  nothing  else  existed.  But  he  had  an  eye  on  Tom's 
passage  for  all  that;  and  as  soon  as  all  was  over,  came 
forward  with  another  flag,  and  reverently  spread  it  on 
the  badv. 

"Don't  you  take  on,  sir,"  he  said,  shaking  the 
squire's  hand.  "All's  well  with  him;  no  fear  for  a 
hand  that's  been  shot  down  in  his  duty  to  captain  and 
cwner.    It  mayn't  be  good  divinity,  but  it's  a  faet," 

Then  he  pulled  me  aside. 

"Doctor  Livesey,"  he  ^aTd,  "in  how  many  weeks  do 
yon  and  sqnire  expect  the  consort?" 

I  told  Mm  it  was  a  question,  not  of  weeks,  but  of 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  £f 

months;  that  if  we  were  not  back  by  the  end  ot  Au- 
gust, Blandly  was  to  send  to  find  us;  but  neither  sooner 
nor  later.    "You  can  calculate  for  yourself,"  I  said. 

"Why,  yes,"  returned  the  captain,  scratching  his 
head,  "and  making  a  large  allowance,  sir,  for  all  the 
gifts  of  Providence,  I  should  say  we  were  pretty  close 
hauled." 

"Hew  do  yeu  mean?"  I  asked. 

"It's  a  pity,  sir,  we  lost  that  second  load.  That's 
what  I  mean,"  replied  the  captain.  "As  for  powder 
and  shot,  we'll  do.  But  the  rations  are  short,  very 
short — so  short,  Doctor  Livesey,  that  we're  perhaps  as 
well  without  that  extra  mouth." 

And  he  pointed  to  the  dead  body  under  the  flag. 

Just  then,  with  a  roar  and  a  whistle,  a  round  shot 
passed  high  above  the  roof  of  the  log-house  and 
plumped  far  beyond  us  in  the  wood. 

"Oho!"  said  the  captain.  "Blaze  away!  You've  lit- 
tle enough  powder  already,  my  lads." 

At  the  second  trial  the  aim  was  better,  and  the  bail 
descended  inside  the  stockade,  scattering  a  cloud  of 
sand,  but  doing  no  further  damage. 

"Captain,"  said  the  squire,  "the  house  is  quite  in- 
visible from  the  ship.  It  must  be  the  flag  they  are 
aiming  at    Would  it  not  be  wiser  to  take  it  in?" 

"Strike  my  colors!"  cried  the  captain.  "No,  sir,  not 
I;"  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  said  the  words,  I  think  we 
all  agreed  with  him.  For  it  was  not  only  a  piece  of 
stout,  seamanly  good  feeling;  it  was  good  policy  be- 
sides, and  showed  our  enemies  that  we  despised  their 
cannonade. 

All  through  the  evening  they  kept  thundering  away. 
Ball  after  ball  flew  over  or  fell  short,  or  kicked  up  the 
sand  in  the  inclosure;  but  they  had  to  fire  so  high  that 
the  shot  fell  dead  and  buried  itself  in  the  soft  sand. 
We  had  no  ricochet  to  fear;  and  though  one  popped  in 
through   the  roof   of   the   log-house   and   out   aerain 


12$  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

through  the  floor,  we   soon  got  used  to  that  sort  of 
horse-play  and 'minded  it  no  more  than  cricket. 

"There  is  one  thing  about  all  this,"  observed  the 
good  captain;  "the  wood  in  front  of  us  is  likely  clear. 
The  ebb  has  made  a  good  while;  our  stores  should  be 
uncovered.    Volunteers  to  go  and  bring  in  pork." 

Gray  and  Hunter  were  the  first  to  come  forward. 
Well  armed,  they  stole  out  of  the  stockade,  but  it 
proved  a  useless  mission.  The  mutineers  were  bolder 
than  we  fancied,  or  they  put  more  trust  in  Israel's 
gunnery.  For  four  or  five  of  them  were  busy  carrying 
off  our  stores,  and  wading  out  with  them  to  one  of  the 
gigs  that  lay  close  by,  pulling  an  oar  or  so  to  hold  her 
steady  against  the  current.  Silver  was  in  the  stern- 
sheets  in  command ;  and  every  man  of  them  was  now 
provided  with  a  musket  from  some  secret  magazine  of 
their  own. 

The  captain  sat  down  to  his  log  \n&  here  is  the  be 
ginning  of  the  entry: 

"Alexander  Smollett,  master;  David  Livesey,  ship'  ; 
doctor;  Abraham  Gray,  carpenter's  mate;  John  Tre- 
lawney,  owner;  John  Hunter  and  Richard  Joyce,  own- 
er's servants,  landsmen — being  all  that  is  left  faithful 
of  the  ship's  company— with  stores  for  ten  days  at 
short  rations,  came  ashore  this  day,  and  flew  British 
colors  on  the  log-house  in  Treasure  Island.  Thomas 
Redruth,  owner's  servant,  landsman,  shot  by  the  muti- 
neers; James  Hawkins,  cabin-boy—"-. 

And  at  the  same  time  I  was  wondering  over  poor 
Jim  Hawkins'  fate. 

A  hail  on  the  land  side. 

"Somebody  hailing  us,"  said  Hunter,  who  was  on 
guard. 

"Doctor!  squire!  captain!  Halloa,  Hunter,  is  that 
you?"  came  the  cries. 

And  I  ran  to  the  door  in  time  to  see  Jim  Hawkins, 
safe  and  sound,  eome  climbing  over  the  stockade. 


TREA.SURE  ISLAND.  131 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

NARRATIVE  RESUMED  BY  JIM  HAWKINS:  THB 
GARRISON  AT  THE  STOCKADE. 

As  soon  as  Ben  Gunn  saw  the  colors  he  came  to  a 
halt,  stopped  me  by  the  arm,  and  sat  down. 

"Now/'  said  he,  "there's  your  friends,  sure  enough." 

"Far  more  likely  it's  the  mutineers,"  I  answered. 

"That!'  he  cried.  "Why,  in  a  place  like  this,  where 
nobody  puts  in  but  gen'lemen  of  fortune,  Silver  would 
fly  the  Jolly  Roger,  you  don't  make  no  doubt  of  that. 
No;  that's  your  friends.4  There's  been  blows,  too,  and 
I  reckon  your  friends  has  had  the  best  of  it;  and  here 
they  are  ashore  in  the  old  stockade,  as  was  made  years 
and  years  ago  by  Flint.  Ah,  he  was  the  man  to  have 
a  headpiece,  was  Flint!  Barring  rum,  his  match  was 
never  seen.  He  were  afraid  of  none;  not  he;  on'y  Sil- 
ver— Silver  was  that  genteel." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "that  may  be  so,  and  so'be  it;  all  the 
more  reason  that  I  should  hurry  on  and  join  my 
friends." 

"Nay,  mate,"  returned  Ben,  "not  you.  You're  a  good 
boy,  or  I'm  mistook;  but  you're  on'y  a.  boy,  all  told. 
Now,  Ben,  Gunn  is  fly.  Rum  wouldn't  bring  me  there, 
where  you're  going — not  rum  wouldn't,  till  I  see  your 
born  gen'leman,  and  gets  it  on  his  word  of  honor.  And 
you  won't  forget  my  words:   *A  precious  sight'  (that'a 


Itt  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

what  you'll  say),  'a  precious  sight  more  confidence'--' 
and  then  nips  him." 

And  he  pinched  me  the  third  time  with  the  same  ah 
of  cleverness. 

"And  when  Ben  Gunn  is  wanted,  you  know  where  to 
find  him,  Jim.  Just  where  you  found  him  to-day.  And 
him  that  comes  is  to  .have  a  white  thing  in  his  hand ; 
and  he's  to  come  alone.  Oh!  and  you'll  say  this:  'Ben 
Gunn,'  says  you,  'has  reasons  of  his  own.'  " 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  believe  I  understand.  You  have 
something  to  propose,  and  you  wish  to  see  the  squire 
or  the  doctor;  and  you're  to  be  found  where  I  found 
you.    Is  that  all?" 

"And  when?  says  you,"  he  added.  "Why,  from 
about  noon  observation  to  about  six  bells." 

"Good,"  says  I,  "and  now  may  I  go?" 

"You  won't  forget?"  he  inquired  anxiously.  "Pre- 
cious sight,  and  reasons  of  his  own,  says  you.  Reasons 
of  his  own;  that's  the  mainstay;  as  between  man  and 
man.  Well,  then — still  holding  me — I  reckon  you 
can  go,  Jim.  And  Jim,  if  you  was  to  see  Silver,  you 
wouldn't  go  for  to  sell  Ben  Gunn?  wild  horses  wouldn't 
draw  it  from  you?  No,  says  you.  And  if  them  pirates 
came  ashore,  Jim,  what  would  you  say  but  there'd  be 
widders  in  the  morning?" 

Here  he  was  interrupted  by  a  loud  report,  and  a  can- 
non-ball came  tearing  through  the  trees  and  pitched 
in  the  sand,  not  a  hundred  yards  from  where  we  two 
were  talking.  The  next  moment  each  of  us  had  taken 
to  his  heels  in  a  different  direction. 

For  a  good  hour  to  come  frequent  reports  shook  the 
island,  and  balls  kept  crashing  through  the  woods.  I 
moved  from  hiding-place  to  hiding-place,  always  pur- 
sued, or  so  it  seemed  to  me,  by  these  terrifying  mis- 
siles. But  toward  the  end  of  the  bombardment,  though 
still  I  durst  not  venture  in  the  direction  of  the  stock- 
ade, wkere  the  balls  fell  oftenest,  T  had  beg*n.  in  a 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  131 

manner,  to  pluck  up  my  heart  again;  and  after  a  Ions 
detour  to  in©  east,  crept  down  among  the  shore-side 
trees. 

The  sun  had  just  set,  the  sea  breeze  was  rustling  and 
tumbling  in  the  woods,  and  ruffling  the  gray  surface 
of  the  anchorage;  the  tide,  too,  was  far  out,  and  great 
tracks  of  sand  lay  uncovered;  the  air,  after  the  heat 
of  the  day,  chilled  me  through  my  jacket 

The  "Hispaniola"  still  lay  where  she  had  anchored; 
but,  "sure  enough,  there  was  the  Jolly  Roger — the  black 
flag  of  piracy — flying  from  her  peak.  Even  as  I  looked 
there  came  another  red  flash  and  another  report,  that 
sent  the  echoes  clattering,  and  one  more  round  shot 
whistled  through  the  air.  It  was  the  last  of  the  can- 
nonade. 

I  lay  for  some  time,  watching  the  bustle  which  suc- 
ceeded the  attack.  Men  were  demolishing  something 
with  axes  on  the  beach  near  the  stockade;  the  poor 
jolly-boat,  I  afterward  discovered.  Away,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  a  great  fire  was  glowing  among  the 
trees,  and  feetween  that  point  and  the  ship  one  of  the 
gigs  kept  coming  and  going,  the  men,  whom  I  had  seen 
so  gloomy,  shouting  at  the  oars  like  children.  But 
there  was  a  sound  in  their  voices  which  suggested 
rum. 

At  length  I  thought  I  might  return  toward  the  stock- 
ade. I  was  pretty  far  down  on  the  low,  sandy  spit  that 
incloses  the  anchorage  to  the  east,  and  is  joined  at 
half-water  to  Skeleton  Island;  and,  now,  as  I  rose  to 
my  feet  I  saw,  some  distance  further  down  the  spit, 
and  rising  from  among  low  bushes,  an  isolated  rock 
pretty  high,  and  peculiarly  white  in  color.  It  occurred 
to  me>  that  this  might  be  the  white  rock  of  which  Ben 
Gann  ha4  spoken,  and  that  some  day  or  other  a  boat 
might  be  wanted,  and  I  should  know  where  to  look  for* 
one. 

Then  I  sMrted  among  the  woods  until  I  had  regained 


124  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

the  rear,  or  shoreward  side,  of  the  stockade,  and  was 
soon  warmly  welcomed  by  the  faithful  party. 

I  had  soon  told  my  story,  and  began  to  look  about 
me.  The  log-house  was  made  of  unsquared  trunks  of 
pine — roof,  walls,  and  floor.  The  latter  stood  in  sev- 
eral places  as  much  as  a  foot  or  a  foot  and  a  half  above 
the  surface  of  the  sand.  There  was  a  porch  at  the 
door,  and  under  this  porch  the  little  spring  welled  up 
into  an  artificial  basin  of  a  rather  odd  kind — no  other 
than  a  great  ship's  kettle  of  iron,  with  the  bottom 
knocked  out,  and  sunk  "to  her  bearings,"  as  the  cap- 
tain said  among  the  sand. 

Little  had  been  left  beside  the  frame-work  of  the 
house;  but  in  one  corner  there  was  a  stone  slab  laid 
down  by  way  of  hearth,  and  fz  old  rusty  iron  basket 
to  contain  the  fire. 

The  slopes  of  the  knoll  and  all  the  inside  of  the 
stockade  had  been  cleared  of  timber  to  build  the  house* 
and  we  could  see  by  the  stumps  what  a  fine  and  lofty 
grove  had  been  destroyed.  Most  of  the  soil  had  been 
washed  away  or  buried  in  drift  after  the  removal  of 
the  trees;  enly  where  the  streamlet  ran  downTfroin 
the  kettle  a  thick  bed  of  moss  and  some  ferns  and 
little  creeping  bushes  were  still  green  among  the  sand, 
Very  close  around  the  stockade — too  close  for  defense, 
they  said — the  wood  still  flourished  high  and  dense,  all 
of  fir  on  the  land  side,  but  toward  the  sea  with  a  large 
admixture  of  live-oaks. 

The  cold  evening  breeze,  of  whieh  I  have  spoken, 
whistled  tftrough  every  chink  of  the  rude  building,  and 
sprinkled  the  floor  with  a  continual  fain  of  fine  sand. 
There  was  sand  in  our  eyes,  sand  in  our  teeth,  sand  in 
our  suppers,  sand  dancing  in  the  spring  at  the  bottom 
of  the  kettle,  for  all  the  world  like  porridge  beginning 
to  boil.  Our  chimney  was  a  square  hole  in  the  roof; 
it  was  but  a  litle  part  of  the  smoke  that  found  its  way 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  126 

out,  and  the  rest  eddied  about  the  house,  and  kept  us 
coughing  and  piping  the  eye. 

Add  to  this  that  Gray,  the  new  man,  had  his  face 
tied  up  in,  a  bandage  for  a  cut  he  had  got  in  breaking 
away  frosa  the  mutineers;  and  that  poor  old  Tom  Red- 
ruth, still  unburied,  lay  along  the  wall,  stiff  and  stark, 
finder  the  Union  Jack. 

If  we  had  been  allowed  to  sit  idle,  we  should  all  have 
fallen  in  the  blues,  but  Captain  Smollett  was  never 
the  man  for  that.  All  hands  were  called  up  before 
him,  and  he  divided  us  into  watches.  The  doctor,  and 
Gray,  and  I,  for  one;  the  squire,  Hunter,  and  Joyce 
upon  the  other.  Tired  as  we  all  were,  two  were  sent 
out  for  firewosd;  two  more  were  sent  to  dig  a  grave  for 
Redruth;  the  doctor  was  named  cook;  I  was  put  sentry 
at  the  door;  and  the  captain  himself  went  from  one  to 
another,  keeping  up  our  spirits  au.d  -ending  a  hand 
wherever  it  was  wanted. 

From  time  to  time  the  doctor  came  to  the  door  for  a 
little  air  and  to  rest  his  eyes,  which  were  almost 
smoked  out  of  his  head;  and  whenever  he  did  so,  he 
had  a  word  for  me. 

"That  man  Smollett,"  he  said  once,  "is  a  better  man 
than  I  am.  And  when  I  say  that  it  means  a  deal, 
Jim." 

Another  time  he  came  and  was  silent  for  awhile. 
Then  he  put  his  head  on  one  side,  and  looked  at  me. 

"Is  this  Ben  Gunn  a  man?"  he  asked. 

"I  do  not  know,  sir,"  said  I.  "I  am  not  very  sure 
whether  he's  sane." 

"If  there's  any  doubt  about  the  matter,  he  is,"  re- 
turned the  doctor.  "A  man  who  has  been  three  years 
biting  his  nails  on  a  desert  island,  Jim,  can't  expect  to 
appear  as  sane  as  you  or  me.  It  doesn't  lie  in  human 
feature.    Was  it  cheese  you  said  he  had  a  fancy  for?" 

"Yes,  sir,  cheese,"  I  answered. 

"Well,  Jim,"  says  he,  "just  see  the  good  that  come* 


126  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

of  being  dainty  in  your  food.  You've  seen  my  snuft- 
box,  haven't  you?  And  you  never  saw  me  take  snuff; 
the  reason  being  that  in  my  snuff-box  I  carry  a  piece 
of  Parmesan  cheese— a  cheese  made  in  Italy,  very  nu- 
tritious,   Well,  that's  for  Ben  Gunn!" 

Before  supper  was  eaten  we  buried  old  Tom  in  the 
sand,  and  stood  round  him  for  awhile  bareheaded  in 
the  breeze.  A  good  deal  of  firewood  had  been  got  in, 
but  not  enough  for  the  captain's  fancy,  and  he  shook 
his  head  over  it,  and  told  us  we  "must  get  back  to  this 
to-morrow  rather  livelier."  Then,  when  we  had  eaten 
our  pork,  and  each  had  a  good  stiff  glass  of  brandy 
grog,  the  three  chiefs  got  together  in  a  corner  to  dis- 
cuss our  prospects. 

It  appears  they  were  at  their  wits'  eni  what  to  do, 
the  stores  being  so  low  that  we  must  have  been  starwed 
into  surrender  long  before  help  came.  But  our  best 
hope,  it  was  decided,  was  to  kill  off  the  buccaneers  un- 
til they  either  hauled  down  their  flag  or  ran  away 
with  the  "Hispaniola."  From  nineteen  they  were  al- 
ready reduced  to  fifteen,  two  others  were  wounded,  and 
one,  at  least — the  man  shot  beside  the  gun — severely 
wounded,  if  he  were  not  dead.  Every  time  we  had  a 
crack  at  them,  we  were  to  take  it,  saving  our  own 
lives,  with  the  extremest  care.  And,  besides  that,  we 
had  two  able  allies — rum  and  the  climate. 

As  for  the  first,  though  we  were  about  half  a  mile 
away,  we  could  hear  them  roaring  and  singing  late 
into  the  night;  and  as  for  the  second,  the  doctor  staked 
his  wig  that. camped  where  they  were  in  the  marsh, 
and  unprovided  with  remedies,  the  half  of  them  would 
be  on  their  backs  before  a  week. 

"So,"  he  added,  "if  we  are  not  all  shot  down  first 
they'll  be  glad  to  be  packing  in  the  schooner.  It's  al- 
ways a  ship,  and  they  can  get  to  buccaneering  again, 
1  suppose." 

"First  ship  that  I  ever  lost,"  said  Captain  Smollett, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  X* 

I  was  dead  tired,  as  you  may  fancy;  and  when  I  go* 
to  sleep,  which  was  net  till  after  a  great  deal  ol  toss 
ing,  I  slept  like  a  log  of  wood. 

The  rest  had  long  been  up,  and  had  already  break' 
fasted  and  increased  the  pile  of  firewood  by  about  halt 
as  much  again,  when  I  was  awakened  by  a  bustle  and 
the  sound  of  voices. 

"Flag  of  truce!"  I  heard  some  one  say;  and  then, 
immediately  after,  with  a  cry  of  surprise,  "Silver  him- 
self!" 

And,  at  that,  up  I  jumped,  and,  rubbing  my  974% 
?$o  to  a  loop-hole  tarthe  wall. 


TREASURE  ISI<ANIk 


CHAPTER  XX- 

SILVER'S  EMBASSY. 

Sure  enough,  there  were  two  men  just  outside  th« 
ttockade,  one  of  them  waving  a  white  cloth;  the  other, 
no  less  a  person  than  Silver  himself,  standing  placidly 
by. 

It  was  still  quite  early,  and  the  coldest  morning  that 
I  think  I  ever  was  abroad  in;  a  chill  that  pierced  into 
the  marrow.  The  sky  was  bright  and  cloudless  over- 
head, and  the  tops  of  the  trees  shone  rosily  in  the  sun. 
But  where  Silver  stood  with  his  lieutenant  all  was 
still  in  shadow,  and  they  waded  knee  deep  in  a  low 
tvhite  vapor,  that  had  crawled  during  the  night  out 
of  the  morass.  The  chill  and  the  vapor  taken  together 
told  a  poor  tale  of  the  island.  It  was  plainly  a  damp, 
feverish,  unhealthy  spot. 

"Keep  in-door s,  men,"  said  the  captain.  "Ten  to  one 
this!  is  a  trick." 

Then  he  hailed  the  buccaneer. 

"Who  goes?    Stand,  or  we  fire." 

"Flag  of  truce,"  cried  Silver. 

The  captain  was  in  the  porch,  keeping  himself  care- 
fully out  of  the  way  of  a  treacherous  shot  should  any 
be  intended.    He  turned- and  spoke  to  us. 

"Doctor's  watch  on  the  lookout.    Br.  Livesey  take 


TREASURE-  IfoliAND.  129 

the  north  side,  if  you  please;  Jim  the  east;  Gray,  west. 
Tb'e  watch  below,  all  hands  to  load  muskets.  Lively* 
n?<?u,  and  careful." 

.And  then  he  turned  again  to  the  mutineers. 

''And  what  do  you  want  with  your  flag  of  truce?" 
he  cried. 

This  time  it  was  the  other  man  who  replied. 

■"Cap'n  Silver,  sir,  to  come  on  hoard  and  make 
terms,"  he  shouted. 

"Cap  n  Silver!  Don't  know  him.  Who's  he?"  cried 
the  captain.  And  we  could  hear  him  adding  to  him- 
self, "Cap'n,  is  it?    My  heart,  and  here's  promotion!" 

Long  John  answered  for  himself. 

"Me,  sir.  These  poor  lads  have  chosen  me  cap'n, 
after  your  desertion,  sir" — laying  a  particular  empha- 
sis upon  the  word  "desertion."  "We're  willing  to  sub- 
mit, if  we  can  come  to  terms,  and  no  bones  about  it. 
All  I  ask  is  your  word,  Cap'n  Smollett,  to  let  me  safe 
and  sound  out  of  this  here  stockade,  and  one  minute 
to  get  out  o'shot  before  a  gun  is  fired!" 

"My  man,"  said  Captain  Smollett,  "I  have  not  the 
slightest  desire  to  talk  to  you.  If  you  wish  to  talk  to 
me,  you  can  come,  that's  all.  If  there's  any  treachery, 
it'll  be  on  your  side,  and  the  Lord  help  you." 

"That's  enough,  cap'n,"  shouted  Long  John,  cheer- 
ily. "A  word  from  you's  enough.  I  know  a  gentle- 
man, and  you  may  lay  to  that." 

We  could  see  the  man  who  carried  the  flag  of  truce 
attempting  to  hold  Sliver  back.  Nor  was  that  wonder- 
ful, seeing  how  cavalier  Lad  been  the  captain's  an- 
swer. But  Silver  laughed  at  him  aloud,  and  slapped 
him  op  the  back,  as  if  the  idea  of  alarm  had  been  ab- 
su»4.  Then  he  advanced  to  the  stockade,  threw  over 
his  crutch,  got  a  leg  up,  and  with  great  vigor  and  skill 
succeeded  in  surmounting  the  fence  and  dropping 
safely  to  the  other  side. 

1  will  confess  that  I  was  far  too  much  taken  up  witM 


130  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

what  was  going  on  to  be  of  the  slightest  use  as  sentry; 
indeed,  I  had  already  deserted  my  eastern  loop-hole 
and  crept  up  behind  the  captain,  who  had  now  seated 
himself  on  the  threshold,  with  his  elbows  on  his  knees, 
his  head  in  his  hands,  and  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  water 
as  it  bubbled  out  of  the  old  iron  kettle  in  the  sand. 
He  was  whistling  to  himself,  "Come,  Lasses  an<? 
Lads." 

Silver  had  terrible  hard  work  getting  up  the  knoll, 
What  with  the  steepness  of  the  incline,  the  thick  tree* 
stumps,  and  the  soft  sand,  he  and  his  crutch  were  as 
helpless  as  a  ship  in  stays.  But  he  stuck  to  it  like  a 
man  in  silence,  and  at  last  arrived  before  the  captain, 
whom  he  saluted  in  the  handsomest  style.-  He  was 
tricked  out  in  his  best;  an  immense  blue  coat,  thick 
with  brass  buttons,  hung  as  low  as  to  his  knees,  and  a 
flne  laced  hat  was  set  on  the  back  of  his  head. 

"Here  you  are,  my  man,"  said  the  captain,  raising 
his  head.    "You  had  better  sit  down." 

"You  ain't  a-going  to  let  me  inside,  cap'n?"  com- 
plained Long  John.  "It's  a  main  cold  morning,  to  be 
sure,  sir,  to  sit  outside  upon  the  sand." 

"Why,  Silver,"  said  the  captain,  "if  yeu  had  pleased 
to  be  an  honest  man  you  might  have  been  sitting  in 
your  galley.  It's  your  own  doing.  You're  either  my 
ship's  cook — and  then  you  were  treated  handsome — or 
Cap'n  Silver,  a  common  mutineer  and  pirate,  and  then 
you  can  go  hang!" 

"Well,  well,  cap'n,"  returned  the  sea-cook  sitting 
down  as  he  was  bidden  on  the  sand,  "you'll  have  to 
give  me  a  hand  up  again,  that's  all.  A  sweet,  pretty 
place  you  have  of  it  here.  Ah,  there's  Jim!  The  top 
of  the  morning  to  you,  Jim.  Doctor,  here's  my  servicer 
Why,  there  you  all  are  together  like  a  happy  family, 
in  a  manner  of  speaking." 

"If  you  have  any  thing  to  say,  my  man,  better  sa# 
H,"  said  the  captain. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  i» 

"Right  you  are,  Cap'n  Smollett, '  replied  Silver. 
"Dooty  is  dooty,  to  be  sure.  Well,  now,  you  look  here, 
that  was  a  good  lay  of  yours  last  night.  I  don't  deny 
it  was  a  good  lay.  Some  of  you  pretty  handy  with  a 
handspike  end.  And  I'll  not  deny  neither  but  what 
some  of  my  people  was  shook— maybe  all  was  shook; 
maybe  I  was  shook  myself;  maybe  that's  why  Vm.  here 
for  terms.  But  you  mark  me,  cap'n,  it  won't  do  twice, 
by  thunder!  We'll  have  to  do  sentry  go,  and  ease  off  a 
point  or  so  on  the  rum.  Maybe  you  think  we  were  al? 
a  sheet  in  the  wind's  eye.  But  I'll  tell  you  I  was  sober; 
I  was  on'y  dog-tired ;  and  if  I'd  awoke  a  second  sooner 
I'd  a  caught  you  at  the  act,  I  would.  He  wasn't  dead 
when  I  got  round  to  him,  not  he." 

"Well?"  says  Captain  Smollett,  as  cool  as  caa  be. 

All  that  Silver  said  was  a  riddle  to  him,  but  you 
would  never  have  guessed  it  from  his  tone.  As  for  me, 
I  began  to  have  an  inkling.  Ben  Gunn's  last  words 
came  back  to  my  mind.  I  began  to  suppose  that  he 
had  paid  the  buccaneers  a  visit  while  they  all  lay 
drunk  together  round  their  fire,  and  I  reckoned  up 
with  glee  that  we  had  only  fourteen  enemies  to  deal 
with. 

"Well,  here  it  is,"  said  Silver.  "We  want  that  treas- 
ure, and  we'll  have  it — that's  our  point!  You  would 
just  as  soon  save  your  lives,  I  reckon;  and  that's  yours. 
You  have  a  chart,  haven't  you?"     „ 

"That's  as  may  be,"  replied  the  captain. 

"Oh,  well,  you  have,  I  know  that,"  returned  Long 
John.  "You  needn't  be  so  husky  with  a  man;  there 
ain't  a  particle  of  service  in  that,  and  you  may  lay 
to  it.  What  I  mean  is,  we  want  your  chart.  Now,  1 
never  meant  you  no  harm,  myself." 

"That  won't  do  with  me,  my  man,"  interrupted  the 
captain.  "We  know  exactly  what  you  meant  to  do, 
and  we  don't  care ;  for  now,  you  see.  you  can't  do  it." 


13*  TREASURE  ISLANt 

And  the  captain  looked  at  him  calmly,  and  pro£ee% 
ed  to  fill  ,his  pipe. 

"If  Abe  Gray—"  Silver  broke  out. 

"Avast  there!"  cried  Mr.  Smollett  "Gray  told  me 
nothing,  and  I  asked  him  nothing;  and  what's  more  I 
would  see  you  and  him  and  this  whole  island  blown 
clean  out  of  the  water  into  blazes  first.  So  there's  my 
mind  for  you,  my  man,  on  that." 

This  little  whiff  of  temper  seemed  to  cool  Silver 
down.  He  had  been  growing  nettled  before,  but  now 
he  pulled  himself  together. 

"Like  enough,"  said  he.  "I  would  set  no  limits  to 
what  gentlemen  might  consider  shipshape,  or  might 
not,  as  the  case  were.  And,  seem'  as  how  you  are 
about  to  take  a  pipe,  cap'n,  I'll  make  so  free  as  to  do 
likewise." 

And  he  filled  a  pipe  and  lighted  it;  and  the  two  men 
sat  silently  smoking  for  quite  awhile,  now  looking 
each  other  in  the  face,  now  stopping  their  tobacco,  now 
leaning  forward  to  spit.  It  was  as  good  as  the  play 
to  see  them. 

"Now,"  resumed  Silver,  "here  it  is.  You  give  us  the 
chart  to  get  ^the-treasure  by,  and  drop  shooting  poor 
seamen,  and  stoving  of  their  heads  in  while  asleep. 
You  do  that,  and  we'll  offer  you  a  choice.  Either  you 
come  aboard  along  of  us,  once  the  treasure  shipped, 
and  then  I'll  give  you  my  affy-davy,  upon  my  word  of 
honor,  to  clap  you  somewhere  safe  ashore.  Or,  if  that 
ain't  your  fancy,  some  of  my  hands  being  rough,  and 
having  old  scores  on  account  of  hazing,  then  you  can 
stay  here,  you  can.  We'll  divide  stores  with  you,  man 
for  man;  and  I'll  give  my  affy-davy,  as  before,  to  speak 
the  first  ship  I  sight;  and  send  'em  here  to  pick  you 
up.  Now,  you'll  own  that's  talking.^  Handsomer  you 
couldn't  look  to  get,  not  you.  And  I  hope" — raising 
his  roice — "that  all  hands  in  this  here  block -house 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  lei 

wilt  overhaul  my  words,  for  what  is  spokfe  to  one  is 
spoke  to  all." 

Captain  Smollett  rose  from  his  seat,  and  knocked 
out  the  ashes  of  his  pipe  in  the  palm  of  his  left  hand. 

"Is  that  alir  he  asked. 

"Every  last  word,  by  thunder!"  answered  John. 
"Refuse  that,  and  you've  seen  the  last  of  me  but  mus- 
ket-balls." 

"Very  good,"  said  the  captain.  "Now,  you'll  hear 
me.  If  you'll  come  up  one  by  one,  unarmed,  I'll  en- 
gage to  clap  you  all  in  irons,  and  take  you  home  to  a 
fair  trial  in  England.  If  you  won't,  my  name  is  Alex* 
ander  Smollett,  I've  flown  my  sovereign's  colors,  an& 
I'll  see  you  all  to  Davy  Jones.  You  can't  find  the  treas- 
ure. You  can't  sail  the  ship — there's  not  a  man  among 
you  fit  to  sail  the  ship.  You  can't  fight  us— Gray, 
there,  got  away  from  five  of  you.  Your  ship's  in  irons, 
Master  Silver;  you're  on  a  lee-shore,  and  so  you'll  find. 
I  stajnd  here  and  tell  you  so,  and  they're  the  last  good 
words  you'll  get  from  me;  for,  in  the  name  of  Heaven* 
I'll  put  a  bullet  in  your  back  when  next  I  meet  you. 
Tramp,  my  lad.  Bundle  out  of  this,  please,  hand  over 
hand,  and  double  quick." 

Stiver's  face  was  a  picture;  his  eyes  started  in  his 
head  with  wrath.    He  shook  the  fire  out  of  his  pipe. 

"Give  me  a  hand  up!"  he  cried. 

"Not  I,"  returned  the  captain. 

"Who'll  give  me  a  hand  up?"  he  roared. 

Not  a  man  among  us  moved.  Growling  the  foulest 
imprecations,  he  crawled  along  the  sand  till  he  got 
hold  of  the  porch  and  qould  hoist  himself  again  upon 
his  crutch.    Then  he  spat  into  the  spring. 

"There!"  he  cried,  "that's  what  I  think  of  ye.  -  Be^ 
fore  an  hour's  out,  I'll  stove  in  your  old  block-house 
like  a  rum  puncheon.  Laugh,  by  thunder,  laugh! 
Before  an  hour's  out,  ye'll  laugh  upon  the  other  side. 
Them  that  die'll  be  the  lucky  ones." 


134  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

And  with  a  dreadful  oath  he  stumbled  off,  ploughed 
down  the  sand,  was  helped  across  the  stockade,  after 
four  or  five  failures,  by  the  man  with  the  flag  of  truce, 
and  disappeared  in  an  instant  afterward  among  the 
trees. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  &*■ 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
the  attack: 

As  soon  as  Silver  disappeared,  the  captain,  who  had 
been  closeify  watching  him,  turned  toward  the  interior 
of  the  borase,  and  found  not  a  man  of  us  at  his  post  hut 
Gray.  It  was  the  first  time  we  had  ever  seen  him 
angry. 

"Quarters!"  he  roared.  And  then,  as  we  all  slunk 
back  to  our  places,  "Gray,"  he  said,  "I'H  put  your 
name  in  the  log-;  you've  stood  by  your  duty  like  a  sea- 
man. Mr.  Trelawney,  I'm  surprised  at  you,  sir.  Doc- 
tor, I  thought  T&a  had  worn  the  king's  coat!  If  that 
was  how  you  served  at  Fontenoy,  sir,  you'd  have  been 
better  in  your  berth." 

The  doctor's  watch  were  all  back  at  their  loop-holes, 
the  rest  were  busy  loading  the  spare  muskets,  and 
every  one  with  a  red  face,  you  may  be  certain,  and  a 
flea  in  his  ear,  as  the  saying  is. 

The  captain  looked  on  for  a  while  in  silence.  Then 
he  spoke. 

"My  lads,"  he  said,  "I've  given  Silver  a  broadside. 
I  pitched  it  in  red-hot  on  purpose;  and-  before  the 
hour's  out,  as  he  said,  we  shall  be  boarded.  We're  out- 
numbered, I  needn't  tell  you  that,  but  we  fight  in  shel- 
ter; and,  a  minute  ago,  I  should  have  said  we  fought 
with  discipline.  I've  no  rrfanner  of  doubt  that  we  can 
drub  t*iei»,  if  you  choose." 


136  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

Then  he  went  the  rounds,  and  saw,  as  he  said,  that 
all  was  clear. 

On  the  two  short  sides  of  the  house,  east  and  west, 
there  were  only  two  loop-holes;  on  the  south  side 
Trhere  the  porch  was,  two  again;  and  on  the  north  side, 
five.  There  was  a  round  score  of  muskets  for  the 
seven  of  us;  the  firewood  had  been  built  into  four  piles 
—tables,  you  might  say — one  about  the  middle  of  each 
side,  and  on  each  of  these  tables  some  ammunition  and 
four  loaded  muskets  were  laid  ready  to  the  hand  of 
the  defenders.    In  the  middle,  the  cutlasses  lay  ranged. 

"Toss  out  the  fire,"  said  the  captain;  "the  chill  is 
past,  and  we  mustn't  have  smoke  in  our  eyes." 

The  iron  fire  basket  was  carried  bodily  out  by  Mr. 
Trelawney,  and  the  embers  smothered  among  sand. 

"Hawkins  hasn't  had  his  breakfast.  Hawkins,  help 
yourself,  and  back  to  your  post  to  eat  it,"  continued 
Captain  Smollett.  "Lively,  now,  my  lad;  you'll  want 
it  before  you've  done.  Hunter,  serve  out  a  round  of 
brandy  to  ail  hands." 

And  while  this  was  going  on,  the  captain  completed, 
in  his  own  mind,  the  plan  of  the  defense. 

"Doctor,  you  will  take  the  door,"  he  resumed.  "See 
and  don't  expose  yourself;  keep  within,  and  fire 
through  the  porch.  Hunter,  take  the  east  side,  there. 
Joyce,  you  stand  by  the  west,  my  man,  Mr.  Trelaw- 
ney, you  are  the  best  shot— you  and  Gray  will  take 
this  long  north  side,  with  the  five  loop-holes;  it's  there 
the  danger  is.  If  they  can  get  up  to  it,  and  fire  in  upon 
us  through  our  own  parts,  things  would  begin  to  look 
dirty.  Hawkins,  neither  you  nor  I  are  much  account 
at  the  shooting;  we'll  stand  by  to  load  and  bear  a 
hand." 

As  the  captain  had"  said,  the  chill  was  past.  As  soon 
as  the  sun  had  climbed  above  our  girdle  of  trees,  it 
fell  with  all  its  force  upon  the  clearing,  and  drank  up 
the  vapors  at  a  draught.    Soon  the  sand  was  baking, 


TREASURE  ISLANIX  133 

and  the  resin  melting  in  the  logs  of  the  block-house. 
Jackets  and  coats  were  flung  aside;  shirts  were 
thrown  open  at  the  neck,  and  rolled  up  to  the  shoul- 
ders; and  we  stood  there,  each  at  his  post,  in  a  fever 
of  heat  and  anxiety. 

An  hour  passed  away. 

"Hang  them!"  said  the  captain.  "This  is  as  dull  as 
the  doldrums.    Gray,  whistle  for  a  wind." 

And  just  at  that  moment  came  the  first  news  of  the 
attack. 

"If  you  please,  sir,"  said  Joyce,  "if  I  see  any  one,  am 
I  to  fire?" 

"I  told  you  so!"  cried  the  captain. 

"Thank  you,  sir,"  returned  Joyce,  with  the  same 
<auiet  civility. 

Nothing  followed  for  a  time:  but  the  remark  had  set 
us  all  on  the  alert,  straining  ears  and  eyes — the  mus- 
keteers with  their  pieces  balanced  in  their  hands,  the 
captain  out  in  the  middle  of  the  block-house,  with  his 
mouth  very  tight  and  a  frown  on  his  face. 

So  some  seconds  passed,  till  suddenly  Joyce  whipped 
up  his  musket  and  fired.  The  report  had  scarcely  died 
away  ere  it  was  repeated  and  repeated  from  without 
in  a  scattering  volley,  shot  behind  shot,  like  a  string 
of  geese,  from  every  side  of  the  inclosure.  Several 
bullets  struck  the  log-house,  but  not  one  entered;  and, 
as  the  smoke  cleared  away  and  vanished,  the  stock- 
ade and  the  woods  around  it  looked  as  quiet  and  empty 
as  before.  Not  a  bough  waved,  not  the  gleam  of  a 
musket-barrel  betrayed  the  presence  of  our  foes. 

"Did  you  hit  your  man?"  asked  the  captain. 

"No,  sir,"  replied  Joyce.    "I  believe  not,  sir." 

"Next  best  thing  to  tell  the  truth,"  muttered  Cap- 
Sain  Smollett.  "Load  his  gun,  Hawkins.  How  many 
should  you  say  there  were  on  your  side,  doctor?" 

"I  know  precisely,"  said  Dr.  Livesey.    "Three  shots 


188  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

were  fired  on  this  side.  I  saw  the  three  flashes — two 
close  together — one  further  to  the  west." 

"Three!"  repeated  the  captain-  "And  how  many  on 
yours,  Mr.  Trelawney?" 

But  this  was  not  so  easily  answered.  There  had 
come  many  from  the  north— seven,  by  the  squire's 
computation;  eight  or  nine,  according  to  Gray.  From 
the  east  and  west  only  a  single  shot  had  been  fired.  It 
was  plain,  therefore,  that  the  attack  would  be  devel- 
oped from  the  north,  and  that  on  the  other  three  sides 
we  were  only  to  be  annoyed  by  a  show  of  hostilities. 
But  Captain  Smollett  made  no  change  in  his  arrange- 
ments. If  the  mutineers  succeeeded  in  crossing  the 
stockade,  he  argued,  they  would  take  possession  of 
any  unprotected  loop-hole,  an^  shoot  us  down  like  rats 
in  our  own  stronghold. 

Nor  had  we  much  time  left  to  us  for  thought.  Sud- 
denly, with  a  loud  huzza,  a  little  cloud  of  pirates 
leaped  from  the  woods  on  the  north  side,  .and  ran 
straight  on  the  stockade.  At  the  same  moment,  the 
fire  was  once  more  opened  from  the  woods,  and  a 
rifle-ball  sung  through  the  door-way,  and  knocked  the 
doctor's  musket  into  bits. 

The  boarders  swarmed  over  the  fence  like  monkeys. 
Squire  and  Gray  fired  again  and  yet  again;  three  men 
fell,  one  forward  into  the  inclosure,  two  back  on  the 
outside.  But  of  these,  one  was  evidently  more  fright- 
ened than  hurt,  for  he  was  on  his  feet  again  in  a  crack, 
and  instantly  disappeared  among  the  trees. 

Two  had  bit  the  dust,  one  had  fled,  four  had  made 
good  their  footing  inside  our  defenses;  while  from  the 
shelter  of  the  woods  seven  or  eight  men,  each  evidently 
supplied  with  several  muskets,  kept  up  a  hot  though 
useless  fire  on  the  log-house. 

The  four  who  had  boarded  made  straight  before 
them  for  the  building,  shouting  as  they  ran,  and  the 
men  among  the  trees  shouted  back  to  encourage  them. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  1& 

Several  shots  were  fired,  but,  such  was  the  hurry  o! 
the  marksmen,  that  not  one  appeared  to  have  taken 
effect.  In  a  moment  the  four  pirates  had  swarmed  up 
the  mound  and  were  upon  us. 

The  head  of  Job  Anderson,  the  boatswain,  appeared 
at  the  middle  loop-hole. 

"At  'em,  all  hands — all  hands!"  he  roared,  in  a  voice 
of  thunder. 

At  the  same  moment,  another  pirate  grasped  Hun- 
ter's musket  by  the  muzzle,  wrenched  it  from  his 
hands,  plucked  it  through  the  loop-hole,  and,  with  one 
stunning  blow,  laid*  the  poor  fellow  senseless  on  the 
floor.  Meanwhile  a  third,  running  unharmed  all  round 
the  house,  appeared  suddenly  in  the  door-way,  and  fell 
with  his  cutlass  on  the  doctor. 

Our  position  was  utterly  reversed.  A  moment  since 
we  were  firing,  under  cover,  at  an  exposed  enemy,  now 
it  was  we  who  lay  uncovered,  and  could  not  return  a 
blow. 

The  log-house  was  full  of  smoke,  to  which  we  owed 
our  comparative  safety.  Cries  and  confusion,  .the 
flashes  and  reports  of  pistol  shots,  and  one  loud  groan, 
rang  in  my  ears. 

"Out,  lads,  out,  and  fight  'em  in  the  open!  Cutlass- 
es!" cried  the  captain. 

I  snatched  a  cutlass  from  the  pile,  and  some  one,  at 
the  time  snatching  another,  gave  me  a  eut  across  the 
knuckles  which  I  hardly  felt.  I  dashed  out  of  the 
door  into  the  clear  sunlight.  Some  one  was  close  be- 
hind, I  knew  not  whom.  Right  in  front,  the  doctor 
was  pursuing  his  assailant  down  the  hill,  and,  just  as 
my  eyes  fell  upon  him,  beat  down  his  guard,  and  sent 
him  sprawling  on  his  back,  with  a  great  slash  across 
his  face. 

"Round  the  house,  lads!  round  the  house4."  cried  the 
captain;  and  even  in  the  hurly-burly  I  perceive4  a 
change  in  his  voice. 


14fr  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

Mechanically  I  obeyed,  turned  eastward,  and  with 
my  cutlass  raised,  ran  round  the  corner  of  the  house. 
Next  moment  I  was  face  to  face  with  Anderson.  He 
roared  aloud,  and  his  hanger  went  up  above  his  head, 
flashing  in  the  sunlight  I  had  not  time  to  be  afraid, 
but,  as  the  blow  still  hung  impending,  leaped  in  a  trice 
upon  one  side,  and  missing  my  foot  in  the  soft  sand, 
rolled  headlong  down  the  slope. 

When  I  had  first  sallied  from  the  door,  the  other 
mutineers  had  been  already  swarming  up  the  palisade 
to  make  an  ond  of  us.  One  man,  in  a  red  night-cap, 
with  his  cutlass  in  his  mouth,  had  even  got  upon  the 
top  and  thrown  a  leg  across.  Well,  so  short  had  been 
the  interval,  that  when  I  found  my  feet  again  all  was 
in  the  same  posture,  the  fellow  with  the  red  night-cap 
still  half-way  over,  another  still  just  showing  his  head 
above  the  top  of  the  stockade.  And  yet,  in  this  breath 
of  time,  the  fight  was  over/and  the  victory  ours. 

Gray,  following  close  behind  me,  had  cut  down  the 
big  boatswain  ere  he  had  time  to  recover  from  his  lost 
blow.  Another  had  been  shot  at  a  loop-hole  in  the 
very  act  of  firing  into  the  house,  and  now  lay  in 
agony,  the  pistol  still  smoking  in  his  hand.  A  third, 
as  I  had  seen,  the  doctor  had  disposed  of  at  a  blow. 
Of  the  four  who  had  scaled  the  palisade,  one  only  re- 
mained unaccounted  for,  and  he,  having  left  his  cut- 
lass on  the  field,  was  now  clambering  out  again  with 
the  fear  of  death  upon  him. 

"Fire — fire  from  the  house!"  cried  the  doctor.  "And 
you,  lads,  back  into  cover." 

But  his  words  were  unheeded,  no  shot  was  fired,  and 
the  last  boarder  made  good  his  escape,  and  disap- 
peared with  the  rest  into  the  wood.  In  three  seconds 
nothing  remained  of  the  attacking  party  but  the  five 
who  had  fallen,  four  on  the  inside,  and  one  on  the  out- 
side, of  the  palisade. 

The  doctor  and  Gray  and  I  ran  full  speed  for  shel- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  141 

ter.  The  survivors  would  soon  be  back  where  they 
had  left  their  muskets,  and  at  any  moment  the  fire 
might  recommence. 

The  house  was  by  this  time  somewhat  cleared  of 
smoke,  and  we  saw  at  a  glance-  the  price  we  had  paid 
for  victory.  Hunter  lay  beside  his  loop-hole,  stunned; 
Joyce  by  his,  shot  through  the  head,  never  to  move 
again;  while  right  in  the  center,  the  squire  was  sup- 
porting the  captain,  one  as  pale  as  the  other. 

"The  captain's  wounded/'  said  Mr.  Trelawney. 

"Have  they  run?"  asked  Mr.  Smollett. 

"All  that  could,  you  may  be  bound,"  returned  the 
doctor;  "but  there's  five  of  them  will  never  run  again.'* 

"Five!1'  cried  the  captain.  "Come,  that's  better. 
Five  against  three  leaves  us  four  to  nine.  That's  bet- 
ter odds  than  we  had  at  starting.  We  were  seven  to 
nineteen  then,  or  thought  we  were,  and  that3s  as  bad 
to  bear."* 

*  The  mutineers  were  soon  only  eight  in  aumber, 
for  tiie  man  shot  by  Mr.  Trelawney  on  board  the 
schooner  died  that  same  evening  of  his  wound.  But 
this  was,  of  course,  not  known  till  after  by  the  faith- 
ful party. 


PART  V. 
I?  SEA  ABVEBTUBE, 


CHAPTER  XXII 
HOW  I  BEGAN  MY  SEA  ADVENTURE. 

There  was  no  return  of  the  mutineers — not  se  mucb 
as  another  snot  out  of  the  woods.  They  had  "got 
their  rations  for  that  day,"  as  the  captain  put  it,  and 
wei  had  the  place  to  ourselves  and  a  quiet  time  to  over- 
haul the  wounded  and  get  dinner.  Squire  and  I  cooked 
outside  in  spite  of  the  danger,  and  even  outside  we 
could  hardly  tell  what  we  were  at,  for  the  herror  of 
the  loud  groans  that  reached  us  from  the  doctor's 
patients. 

Out  of  the  eight  men  who  had  fallen  in  the  action 
only  three  still  breathed — that  one  of  the  pirates  who 
had  been  shot  at  the  loop-hole,  Hunter,  and  Captain 
Smollett;  and  of  these  the  first  two  were  as  good  as 
dead;  the  mutineer,  indeed,  died  under  the  doctor's 
knife,  and  Hunter,,  do  what  we  could,  never  recovered 
consciousness  ^n  this  world.  He  lingered  all  day, 
breathing  loudly  like  the  old  buccaneer  at  home  in  his 
apoplectic  fit;  but  the  bones  of  his  chest  had  been 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  14$ 

crubiied  by  tlie  blow,  and  his  skull  fractured  in  falling, 
and  some  time  in  the  following  night,  without  sign  or 
sound,  he  went  to  his  Maker. 

As  for  the  captain,  his  wounds  were  grievous,  in- 
deed, but  not  dangerous.  No  organ  was  fatally  in- 
jured. Anderson's  ball — for  it  was  Job  that  shot  him 
first— had  broken  his  shoulder-blade  and  touched  the 
lung,  not  badly;  the  seconi  had  Only  torn  and  dis- 
placed some  muscles  in  the  calf.  He  was  sure  to  re- 
cover, the  doctor  said,  but,  in  the  meantime  and  for 
weeks  to  come,  he  must  not  walk  or  move  his  arm, 
nor  so  much  as  speak  when  he  could  help  it. 

My  own  accidental  cut  across  the  knuckles  was  s 
flea-bite.  Dr.  Livesey  patched  it  up  with  plaster,  anc 
pulled  my  ears  for  me  into  the  bargain. 

After  dinner  the  squire  and  the  doctor  sat  by  the 
captain's  side  awhile  in  consultation;  and  when  they 
had  talked  to  their  hearts'  content*  it  being  then  a  lit- 
tle past  noon,  the  doctor  took  up  his  hat  and  pistols, 
girt  on  a  cutlass,  put  the  chart  in  his  pocket,  and  with 
?  musket  over  his  shoulder,  crossed  the  palisade  on 
the  north  side,  and  set  off  briskly  through  the  trees. 

Gray  and  I  were  sitting  together  at  the  far  end  of  the 
block-house,  to  be  out  of  ear-shot  of  our  officers  con- 
sulting; and  Gray  took  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth  and 
fairly  forgot  to  put  it  back  again,  so  thunder-struck 
he  was  at  this  occurrence. 

"Why,  in  the  name  of  Davy  Jones,"  said  he,  "is  Doc- 
tor Livesey  mad?" 

"Why,  no,"  says  I.  "He's  about  the  last  of  this  crew 
for  that,  I  take  it," 

"Well,  shipmate,"  said  Gray,  "mad  he jnay  not  be; 
but  if  he's  not,  mark  my  words,  I  am." 

"I  take  it,"  replied  I,  "the  doctor  has  his  idea;  and  i 
I  am  right,  he's  going  now  to  see  Ben  Gunn." 

I  was  right,  as  appeared  later;  but  in  the  meantime, 
the  house  being  stifling  hot,  and  the  little  patch  of 


14*  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

and  inside  the  palisade  ablaze  with  midday  sun,  1 
l  egan  to  get  another  thought  into  my  head,  which  was 
not  by  any  means  so  right.  What  I  began  to  do  was  to 
snvy  the  doctor,  walking  in  the  cool  shadow  of  the 
woods,  with  the  birds  about  him,  and  the  pleasant 
jmiell  of  the  pines,  while  I  sat  grilling,  with  my  clothes 
stuck  to  the  hot  resin,  and  so  much  blood  about  me, 
and  so  many  poor  dead  bodies  lying  all  around,  that 
I  took  a  disgust  of  the  place  that  was  almost  as  strong 
as  fear. 

Ali  „iie  time  I  was  washing  out  tke  block-house,  and 
then  washing  up  the  things  from  dinner,  this  disgust 
and  envy  kept  growing  stronger  and  stronger,  till  at 
last,  being  near  a  bread-bag,  and  n©  oae  then  observ- 
ing me,  I  took  the  first  step  toward  my  escapade,  and 
filled  both  pockets  of  my  coat  with  biscuit. 

I  was  a  fool,  if  you  like,  and  certainly  I  was  going 
to  do  a  foolish,  overbold  act;  but  I  was  determined  to 
do  it  with  all  the  precautions  in  my  power.  These 
biscuits,  should  anything  befall  me,  would  keep  me, 
at  least  from  starving  till  far  on  in  the  next  day. 

The  next  thing  I  laid  hold  of  was  a  brace  of  pistols, 
and  as  I  already  had  a  powder-horn  and  bullets,  I  felt 
myself  well  supplied  with  arms. 

As  for  the  scheme  I  had  in  my  mind,  it  was  not  a 
bad  one  in  itself.  It  was  to  go  down  the  sandy  spit 
that  divides  the  anchorage  on  the  east  frem  the  open 
sea,  find  the  white  rock  I  had  observed  last  evening, 
and  ascertain  whether  it  was  there  ©r  not  that  Ben 
Gunn  had  hidden  his  boat;  a  thing  quite -worth  doing, 
as  I  still  believe.  But  as  I  was  certain  I  should  not  be 
allowed  to  leave  the  inclosure,  my  only  plan  was  tp 
take  French  leave,  and  slip  out  when  nobody  was 
watching;  and  that  -was  so  b?,d  a  way  of  doing  it  as 
made  the  thing  itself  wrong.  But  I  was  only  a  boy, 
and  I  had  made  my  mind  up. 
.  Well,  as  things  at  last  fell  out,  I  found  an  admix* 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  145 

able  opportunity.  The  squire  and  Gray  were  busy 
helping  the  captain  with  his  bandages;  the  coast  was 
clear;  I  made  a  bolt  for  it  over  the  stockade  and  into 
the  thickest  of  the  trees,  and  before  my  absence  was 
observed  I  was  out  of  cry  of  companions. 

This  was  my5 second  folly,  far  worse  than  the  first, 
as  I  left  but  two  sound  men  to  guard  the  house;  but 
like  the  first,  it  was  a  help  toward  saving  all  of  us. 

I  took  my  way  straight  for  the  east  coast  of  the 
island,  for  I  was  determined  to  go  down  the  sea-side 
of  the  spit  to  avoid  all  chance  of  observation  from 
the  anchorage.  It  was  already  late  in  the  afternoon, 
although  still  warm  and  sunny.  As  I  continued  to 
tnread  the  tall  woods  I  could  hear  from  far  before  me 
not  only  the  continuous  thunder  of  the  surf,  but  a 
certain  tossing  of  foliage  and  grinding  of  boughs 
which  showed  me  the  sea  breeze  had  set  in  higher  than 
usual.  Seen  cool  draughts  of  air  began  to  reach  me; 
and  a  few  steps  further  I  came  forth  into  the  open 
borders  of  the  grove,  and  saw  the  sea  lying  blue  and 
sunny  to  the  horizon,  and  the  surf  tumbling  and  toss- 
ing its  foam  along  the  beach. 

I  have  never  seen  the  sea  quiet  round  Treasure 
Island.  The  sun  might  blaze  overhead,  the  air  be 
without  a  breati),  the  surface  smooth  and  blue,  but 
still  these  great  rollers  would  be  running  along  all 
the  external  coast,  thundering  and  thundering  by  day 
and  night;  and  I  scarce  believe  there  is  one  spot  in  the 
island  where  a  man  would  be  out  of  ear-shot  of  their 
noise. 

I  walked  along  beside  the  surf  with  great  enjoyment, 
till,  thinking  I  was  now  got  far  enough  to  the  south, 
I  took  the  cover  of  some  thick  bushes,  and  crept  warily 
up  to  the  ridge  of  the  spit. 

Behind  me  was  the  sea,  in  front  the  anchorage.  The 
sea  breeze,  as  though  it  had  the  sooner  blown  itself 
out  by  its  unusual  violence,  was  already  at  an  end;  it 


146  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

had  been  succeeded  by  light,  variable  airs  from  the 
south  and  southeast,  carrying  great  banks  of  fog;  and 
the  anchorage,  under  lee  of  Skeleton  Island,  lay  still 
and  leaden  as  when  first  we  entered  it.  The  "His- 
paniola,"  in  that  unbroken  mirror,  was  exaetly  por- 
trayed from  the  truck  to  the  water-line,  the  Jolly 
Roger  hanging  from  her  peak. 

Alongside  lay  one  of  the  gigs,  Silver  in  the  stern 
sheets — him  I  could  always  recognize— while  a  couple 
of  men  were  leaning  over  the  stern  bulwarks,  one  of 
them  with  a  red  cap — the  very  rogue  that  I  had  seen 
some  hours  before  stride-legs  upon  the  palisade.  Ap- 
parently they  were  talking  and  laughing,  though  at 
that  distance — upward  of  a  mile — I  could,  of  course, 
hear  no  word  of  what  was  said.  All  at  once,  there  be- 
gan the  most  horrid,  unearthly  screaming,  which  at 
first  startled  me  badly,  though  I  had  soon  remembered 
the  voice  of  Captain  Flint,  and  even  thought  I  could 
make  out  the  bird  by  her  bright  plumage  as  she  sat 
perched  upon  her  master's  wrist. 

Soon  after  the  jolly-boat  shoved  off  and  pulled  for 
shore,  and  the  man  with  the  red  cap  and  his  comrade 
went  below  by  the  cabin  companion. 

Just  about  the  same  time  the  sun  had  gone  down 
behind  the  Spy-glass,  and  as  the  fog  was  collecting 
rapidly,  it  began  to  grow  dark  in  earnest.  I  saw  I 
must  lose  no  time  if  I  were  to  find  the  boat  that  even- 
ing. 

Tne  white  rock,  visible  enough  above  the  brush,  was 
still  some  eighth  of  a  mile  further  down  the  spit,  and 
it  took  me  a  goodish  while  to  get  up  with  it,  crawling, 
often  on  all-fours,  among  the  scrub.  Night  had  al- 
most come  when  I  laid  my  hand  on  its  rough  sides. 
Right  below  it  there  was  an  exceedingly  small  hollow 
of  green  turf,  hidden  by  banks  and  a  thick  underwood 
about  knee-deep,  that  grew  there  very  plentifully;  and 
in  t&e  center  of  the  dell,  sure  enough,  a  little  tent  of 


TREASURE  ISUAND.  147 

goat-skins,  like  what  the  gypsies  -carry  about  with 
them  in  England. 

I  dropped  into  the  hollow,  lifted  the  side  of  the  tent, 
and  there  was  Ben  Gunn's  boat— home-made  if  ever 
anything  was  home-made;  a  rude,  lop-sided  frame- 
work of  tough  wood,  and  stretched  upon  that  a  cover- 
ing of  goat-skin,  with  the  hair  inside.  The  thing  was 
extremely  small,  even  for  me,  and  I  can  hardly  imag- 
ine that  it  -could  have  floated  with  a  full-sized  man. 
There  was  one  thwart  set  as  low  as  possible,  a  kind 
of  stretcher  In  the  bows,  and  a  double  paddle  for  pro- 
pulsion. 

I  had  not  then  seen  a  coracle,  such  as  the  ancient 
Britons  made,  but  I  have  seen  one  since,  and  I  can 
give  you  no  fairer  idea  of  Ben  Gunn's  boat  than  by 
saying  it  was  like  the  first  and  the  worst  coracle  ever 
made  by  man.  But  the  great  advantage  of  the  cor- 
acle it  certainly  possessed,  fn:  it  was  exceedingly  light 
and  portable. 

Well,  now  that  I  had  found  the  boat,  you  would 
have  thought  I  had  had  enough  of' truancy  for  once; 
but  in  ths  meantime  I  had  taken  another  notion,  and 
become  so  obstinately  fond  of  it  that  I  would  have  car- 
ried it  out,  I  believe,  in  the  teeth  of  Captain  Smollett 
himself.  This  was  to  slip  out  under  cover  of  the 
night,  cut  the  "Hispaniola"  adrift,  and  let  her-  go 
ashore  where  she  fancied.  I  had  quite  made  up  my 
mind  that  the  mutineers,  after  their  repulse  of  the 
morning,  had  nothing  nearer  their  hearts  than  to  up 
anchor  and  away  to  sea;  this,  I  thought,  it  would  be  a 
fine  thing  to  prevent,  and  now  that  I  had  seen  how 
they  left  tfieir  watchmen  unprovided  with  a  boat,  I 
thought  it  might  fee  done  with  little  risk. 

Down  I  sat  to  wait  for  darkness,  and  made  a  hearty 
meal  of  biscuit.  It  was  a  night  out  of  ten  thousand 
for  my  purpose.  The  fog  had  now  buried  all  heaven. 
As  the  last  rays  of  daylight  dwindled  and  disappeared, 


14c  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

absokktf  blackness  settled  down  on  Treasure  Island. 
And  when,  at  last,  I  shouldered  the  coracle,  and 
groped  my  way  stumblingly  out  of  the  hollow  where 
I  had  supped,  there  were  but  two  points  visible  on  the 
whole  anchorage. 

One'was  the  great  fire  on  shore,  ty  which  the  de- 
feated pirates  lay  carousing  in  the  swamp.  The 
other,  a  mere  blur  of  light  upon  the  darkness,  indi- 
cated the  position  of  the  anchored  ship.  She  had 
swung  round  to  the  ebb — her  bow  was  now  toward 
me — the  only  lights  on  board  were  in  the  cabin;  and 
what  I  saw  was  merely  a  reflection  on  the  fog  of  the 
strong  rays  that  flowed  from  the  stern  window. 

The  ebb  had  already  run  some  time,  and  I  naa  to 
wafie  through  the  long  belt  of  swampy  sand,  where  I 
sunk  several  times  above  the  ankle,  before  I  came  to 
the  edge  of  the  retreating  water,  and  wading  a  little 
way  in,  with  some  strength  and  dexterity,  set  my  cor- 
acle, keel  downward,  on  the  surface. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  149 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
THE    EBB-TIDE    RUNS, 

The  eoracle — as  I  had  ample  reason  to  know  before 
J  was  done  with  her— was  a  very  safe  boat  for  a  per- 
son of  my  height  and  weight,  both  buoyant  and  clever 
in  a  seaway;  but  she  was  the  most  cross-grained,  lop- 
sided craft  to  manage.  Do  as  you  pleased,  she  always 
made  more  leeway  than  anything  else,  and  turning 
round  and  round  was  the  maneuver  she  was  best  at. 
Even  Ben  Gunn  himself  has  admitted  that  she  was 
"queer  to  handle  till  you  knew  her  way." 

Certainly  I  did  not  know  her  way.  She  turned  in 
every  direction  but  the  one  I  was  bound,  to  go;  the 
most  part  of  the  time  we  were  broadside  on>  and  I  am 
very  sure  I  never  should  have  made  the  ship  at  all 
but  for  the  tide.  By  good  fortune,  paddle  as  I  pleased, 
the  tide  was  still  sweeping  me  down;  and  there  lay  the 
"Hispanioia"  right  in  the  fair  way,  hardly  to  be 
missed. 

First  she  lopmed  before  me  like  a  blot  of  something 
yet  blacker  than  darkness,  then  her  spars  and  hull 
began  to  take  shape,  and  the  next  moment,  as  it 
seemed  (for  the  further  I  went  the  brisker  grew  the 
current  of  the  ebb),  I  was  alongside  of  her  hawser,  and 
had  laid  hold. 

The  hawser  was  as  taut  as  a  bowstring— so  strong 


150  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

she  pulled,  upon  her  anchor.  All  round  the  hull,  in  the 
blackness,  the  rippling  current  bubbled  and  chattered 
like  a  little  mountain  stream.  One  cut  with  my  sea 
gully,  and  the  "Hispaniola"  would  go  humming  down 
the  .tide. 

So  far  so  good;  but  it  next  occurred  to  my  recollec- 
tion that  a  taut  hawser,  suddenly  cut,  is  a  thing  as 
dangerous  as  a  kicking  horse.  Ten  to  one,  if  I  were 
so  foolhardy  as  to  cut  the  "Hispaniola"  from  her  an- 
chor, I  and  the  coracle  would  be  knocked  clean  out  of 
the  water. 

This  brought  me  to  a  full  stop,  and  if  fortune  had 
not  again  particularly  favored  me,  I  should  have  had 
to  abandon  my  design.  But  the  light  airs  which  had 
begun  blowing  from  the  southeast  and  south  had 
hauled  round  after  nightfall  into  the  southwest.  Just 
while  I  was  meditating,  a  puff  came,  caught  the  "His- 
paniola," and  forced  her  up  into  the  current;  and,  to 
my  great  joy,  I  felt  the  hawser  slacken  in  my  grasp, 
and  the  hand  by  which  I  held  it  dip  for  a  second  under 
water. 

With  that  I  made  my  mind  up,  took  out  my  gully* 
opened  it  with  my  teeth,  and  cut  one  strand  after  an- 
other, till  the  vessel  swung  by  two.  Then  I  lay  quiet, 
waiting  to  sever  these  last  when  the  strain  should  be 
once  more  lightened  by  a  breath  of  wind. 

All  this  time  I  had  heard  the  sound  of  loud  voices 
from  the  cabin;  but,  to  say  truth,  my  mind  had  been  so 
entirely  taken  up  with  other  thoughts  that  I  had 
scarcely  given  ear.  Now,  however,  when  I  had  noth- 
ing else  to  do,  i  began  to  pay  more  heed. 

One  I  recognized  for  the  cockswain's  Israel  Hands, 
that  had  been  Flint's  gunner  in  former  days.  The 
other  was,  of  course,  my  friend  of  the  red  nignt-cap. 
Both  men  were  plainly  the  worse  of  drink,  and  they 
were  still  drinking;  for,  even  while  I  was  listening, 
one  of  them  with  a  drunken  cry,  opened  the  stern 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  181 

window  and  threw  out  something,  which  I  divined  to 
be  an  empty  bottle.  But  they  were  not  only  tipsy;  it 
was  plain  that  they  were  furiously  angry.  Oaths  flew 
like  hailstones,  and  every  now  and  theu  there  came 
forth  such  an  explosion  as  I  thought  was  sure  to  end 
in  blows.  But  each  time  the  quarrel  passed  oft*,  and 
the  voices  grumbled  lower  for  awhile,  until  the  next 
crisis  came,  and,  in  its  turn,  passed  away  without 
result. 

On  shore,  I  could  see  the  glow  of  the  great  camp-fire 
burning  warmly  through  the  shore-side  trees.  Some 
one  was  singing,  a  dull,  old  droning  sailor's  song,  with 
a  droop  and  a  quaver  at  the  end  of  every  verse,  and 
seemingly  no  end  to  it  at  all  but  the  patience  of  the 
singer.  I  had  heard  it  on  the  voyage  more  than  once, 
and  remembered  these  words: 

"But  one  man  of  the  crew  alive. 
What  put  to  sea  with  seventy-flve." 
And  I  thought  it  was  a  ditty  rather  too  dolefully  ap- 
propriate for  a  company  that  had  met  such  cruel  losses 
in  the  morning.  But,  indeed,  from  what  I  saw,  all 
these  buccaneers  were  as  callous  as  the  sea  they  sailed 
on. 

At  last  the  breeze  came;  the  schooner  sidled  and 
drew  nearer  in  the  dark;  I  felt  the  hawser  slacken 
once  more,  and  with  a  good,  tough  effort,  cut  the  last 
fibers  through. 

The  breeze  had  but  little  action  on  the  coracle,  and 
I  was  almost  instantly  swept  against  the  bows  of  the 
"Hispaniola."  At  the  same  time  the  schooner  began 
to  turn  upon  her  heel,  spinning  slowly,  end  for  end, 
across  the  current. 

I  wrought  like  a  fiend,  for  I  expected  every  moment 
to  be  swamped;  and  since  I  found  I  could  not  push  the 
coracle  directly  off,  I  now  shoved  straight  astern.  At 
length  I  was  clear  of  my  dangerous  neighbor;  and 
just  as  I  gave  the  last  impulsion,   my   hands    came 


152  {TREASURE  ISLAND. 

across  a  light  cord  that  was  trailing  overboard  across 
the  stern  bulwarks.    Instantly  I  grasped  it. 

Why  I  should  have  done  so  I  can  hardly  say.  It 
was  at  first  mere  instinct;  but  once  I  had  it  in  my 
hands  and  found  it  fast,  curiosity  began  to  get  the 
upper  hand,  and  I  determined  I  should  have  one  look 
through  the  cabin  window. 

I  pulled  in  hand  over  hand  on  the  cord,  and,  when 
I  judged  myself  near  enough,  rose  at  Infinite  risk  to 
about  half  my  height,  and  thus  commanded  the  roof 
and  a  slice  of  the  interior  of  the  cabin. 

By  this  time  the  schooner  and  her  little  consort 
were  gliding  pretty  swiftly  through  the  water;  indeed, 
we  had  already  fetched  up  level  with  the  camp-fire. 
The  ship  was  talking,  as  sailors  say,  loudly,  treading 
the  innumerable  ripples  with  an  incessant  weltering 
splash;  and  until  I  got  my  eye  above  the  window-sill 
I  could  not  comprehend  why  the  watchmen  had  taken; 
no  alarmr  One  glance,  however,  was  sufficient;  and  it' 
was  only  one  glance  that  I  durst  take  from  that  un- 
steady skiff.  It  showed  me  Hands  and  his  companion 
locked  together  in  deadly  wrestle,  each  with  a  hand 
upon  the  other's  throat. 

I  dropped  upon  the  thwart  regain,  none  too  soon,  for 
I  was  near  overboard.  I  could  see  nothing  for  the 
moment,  but  these  two  furious,  encrimsoned  faces, 
swaying  together  under  the  smoky  lamp;  and  I  shut 
my  eyes  to  let  them  grow  once  more  familiar  with  the 
darkness. 

The  endless  ballad  had  come  to  an  end  at  last,  and 
the  whole  diminished  company  about  the  eamp-ftr© 
had  broken  into  the  chorus  I  had  heard  so  often: 

"Fifteen  men  on  the  dead  man's  chest — 
Yc-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum! 
Drink  and  the  devil  had  done  for  the  rest— 
Yo-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum!" 
I  was  <|ust  .thinking  how  busy  drink  and  the  devH 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  153 

were  at  that  very  moment  in  the  cabin  of  the  "His- 
paniola,"  when  I  was  surprised  by  a  sudden  lurch  of 
the  coracle.  At  the  same  moment  she  yawed  sharply 
and  seemed  to  change  her  course.  The  speed  in  the 
meantime  had  strangely  increased. 

I  opened  my  eyes  at  once.  All  round  me  were  little 
ripples,  combing  over  with  a  sharp,  bristling  sound 
and  slightly  phosphorescent  The  "Hispaniola"  her- 
self, a  few  yards  in  whose  wake  I  was  still  being 
whirled  along,  seemed  to  stagger  in  her  course,  and  1 
saw  her  spars  toss  a  little  against  the  blackness  of 
the  night;  nay,  as  I  looked  longer,  I  made  sure  she 
also  was  wheeling  to  the  southward. 

I  glanced  over  my  shoulder,  and  my  heart  jumped 
against  my  ribs.  There,  right  behind  me,  was  the 
glow  of  the  camp-fire.  The  current  had  turned  at 
right  angles,  sweeping  round  along  with  it  the  tall 
schooner  and  the  little  dancing  coracle;  ever  quicken- 
ing, ever  bubbling  higher,  ever  muttering  louder,  it 
went  spinning  through  the  narrows  for  the  open  sea. 

Suddenly  the  schooner  in  front  of  me  gave  a  violent 
Taw,  turning,  perhaps,  through  twenty  degrees;  and 
almost  at  the  same  moment  one  shout  followed  another 
from  on  board;  I  could  hear  feet  pounding  on  the  com- 
panion-ladder;  and  I  knew  that  the  two  drunkards 
had  at  last  been  interrupted  in  their  quarrel  and  awak- 
ened to  a  sense  of  their  disaster. 

I  lay  down  fiat  in  the  bottom  of  that  wretched  skiff, 
and  devoutly  recommended  my  spirit  to  its  Maker. 
At  the  end  of  the  straits,  I  made  sure  we  must  fall 
into  some  bar  of  raging  breakers,  where  all  my  troub- 
les would  be  ended  speedily;  and  though  I  could,  per- 
haps, bear  to  die,  I  could  not  bear  to  look  upon  my 
fate  as  it  approached. 

So  I  must  have  laid  for  hours,  continually  beaten  to 
and  fro  upon  the  billows,  now  and  again  wetted  With 
flying  gprays,  and  never  ceasing  to  expect  death  at  the 


154  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

next  plunge.  Gradually  weariness  grew  upon  me;  a 
numbness,  an  occasional  stupor,  fell  upon  my  mind 
even  in  the  midst  Of  my  terrors;  until  sleep  at  last  in- 
tervened, and  in  my  sea-tossed  coracle  I  lay  and 
dreamed  of  home  and  the  old  Admiral  Beabow. 


TRBAgURE  ISI^^fD.  *I5 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  CRUISE   OF  THE   CORACLE. 

It  was  broad  day  when  I  awoke,  and  found  myself 
tossing  at  the  southwest  end  of  Treasure  Island.  The 
sun  was  up,  but  was  still  hid  from  me  behind  the  great 
bulk  of  the  Spy-glass,  which  on  this  side  descended 
almost  to.  the  sea  in  formidable  cliffs. 

Haulbowline  Head  and  Mizzen-mast  Hill  were  at  my 
elbow;  the  hill  bare  and  dark,  the  head  bound  with 
cliffs  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  and  fringed  with  great 
masses  of  fallen  rock.  I  was  scarce  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
to  seaward,  and  it  was  my  first  thought  to  paddle  in 
and  land. 

That  notion  was  soon  given  over.  Among  the  fallen 
rocks  the  breakers  spouted  and  bellowed;  loud  rever- 
berations, heavy  sprays  flying  and  falling,  succeeded 
one  another  from  second  to  second;  and  I  saw  myself, 
if  I  ventured  nearer,  dashed  to  death  upon  the  rough 
shore,  or  spending  my  strength  in  vain  to  scale  the 
beetling  crags. 

Nor  was  that  all;  for  crawling  together  on  flat  tables 
of  rock,  or  letting  themselves  drop  into  the  sea  with 
loud  reports,  I  beheld  huge  slimy  monsters — soft 
snails,  as  it  were,  of  incredible  bigness — two  or  three 
scoroof  them  together,  making  the  rocks  to  echo  with 
their  barkings. 


!5fc  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

1  have  understood  since  that  they  were  sea-lions, 
and  entirely  harmless.  But  the  look  of  them,  added 
to  the  difficulty  e^f  the  shore  and  the  high  running  of 
the  surf,  was  more  than  enough  to  disgust  m©  of  that 
landing-place.  I  felt  willing  rather  to  starve  at  sea 
than  to  confront  such  perils. 

In  the  meantime  I  had  a  better  ehance,  as  I  sup- 
posed, before  me  North  of  Haulhowline  Head,  the  land 
runs  in  a  long  way,  leaving,  at  low  tide,  a  long  stretch 
of  yellow  sand.  To  the  north  of  that,  again,  there 
comes  another  cape — Cape  of  the  Woods,  as  it  was 
marked  upon  the  chart— buried  in  tall  green  pines, 
which  descended  to  the  margin  of  the  sea. 

I  remembered  what  Silver  had  said  about  the  cur- 
rent that  sets  northward  along  the  whole  west  coast  of 
Treasure  Island;  and  seeing  from  my  position  that  I 
was  already  under  its  influence,  I  preferred  to  leave 
Haulbowline  Head  behind  me,  and  reserve  my  strength 
for  an  attempt  to  land  upon  the  kindlier-looking  Cape 
of  the  Woods. 

There  was  a  great,  smooth  swell  upon  the  sea.  The 
wind  blowing  steady  and  gentle  from  the  south,  there 
was  no  contrariety  between  that  and  the  current,  and 
the  billows  rose  and  fell  unbroken. 

Had  it  been  otherwise,  I  must  long  ago  have  per- 
ished; but  as  it  was,  it  is  surprising  how  easily  and 
securely  my  little  and  light  boat  could  ride.  Often,  as 
I  still  lay  at  the  bottom,  and  kept  no  more  than  an  eye 
above  the  gunwale,  I  would  see  a  big  blue  summit 
heaving  close  above  me;  yet  the  coracle  would  but 
bounce  a  little,  dance. as.  if  on  springs,  and  subside  on 
the  other  side  into  the  trough  as  light!/  as  a  bird. 

I  began  after  a  little  to  grow  very  bold,  and  sat  up 
to  try  my  skill  at  paddling.  But  even  a  small  change; 
in  the  disposition  of  the  weight  will  produce  violent 
changes  in  the  behavidr  of  a  coracle.  And  I  had  hardly 
moved  before  the  boat,  giving  up  at  once  her  gentle, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  157 

dancing  movement,  ran  straight  down  a  slope  of  water 
so  steep  that  it  made  me  giddy,  and  struck  her  nose, 
with  a  spout  of  spray,  deep  into  the  side  of  the  next 
wave.       ~" 

I  was  drenched  and  terrified,  and  fell  instantly  back 
into  my  old  position,  whereupon  the  coracle  seemed 
to  find  her  head  again,  and  led  me  softly  as  before 
among  the  billows.  It  was  plain  she  was  not  to  be 
interfered  with,  and  at  that  rate,  since  I  could  in  no 
way  influence  her  course,  what  hope  had  I  left  of 
reaching  land? 

I  began  to  be  horribly  frightened,  but  I  kept  my 
head,  for*  alt  that.  First,  moving  with  all  care,  I  grad- 
ually bailed  out  the  coracle  with  my  sea-cap;  then 
getting  my  eye  once  more  above  the  gunwale,  I  set  my-- 
self  to  study  how  it  was  she  managed  to  slip  so  quietly 
through  the  rollers. 

I  found  each  wave,  instead  of  the  big,  smooth,  glossy 
mountain  it  looks  from  shore,  or  from  a  vesseFs  deck, 
was  for  al!  the  world  like  any  range  of  hills  on  the  dry 
land,  full  of  peaks  and  smooth  places  and  valleys. 
The  coracle,  left  to  herself,  turning  from  side  to  .side, 
threaded,  so  to  speak,  her  way  through  these  lower 
parts,  and  avoided  the  steep  slopes  and  higher,  top- 
pling summits  of  the  wave. 

"Well,  now,"  thought  I  to  myself,  "it  is  plain  I  must 
lie  where  I  am,  and  not  disturb  the  balance;  but  it  is 
plain,  also,  that  1  can  put  the  paddle  over  the  side, 
and  from  time  to  time,  in  smooth  places,  give  her  a 
shove  or  two  toward  land." 

No  sooner  thought  upon  than  done.  There  I  lay  on 
my  elbows,  in  the  most  trying  attitude,  and  every  now 
and  again  gave  a  weak  stroke  or  two  to  turn  her  head 
to  shore. 

It  was  very  tiring,  and  slow  work,  yet  I  did  visibly 
gain  ground;  and,  as  we  drew  near  the  Cape  of  the 
Woods,  though  I  saw  I  must  infallibly  miss  that  points 


158  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

I  had  still  made  some  hundred  yards  of  easting.  I.was, 
indeed,  close  in.  I  could  see  the  cool,  green  tree-tops 
swaying  together  in  the  breeze,  and  I  felt  sure  I  should 
make  the  next  promontory  without  fail. 

It  was  high  time,  for  I  now  began  to  be  tortured 
with  thirst.  The  glow  of  the  sun  from  above;  its  thou- 
sand-fold reflection  from  the  waves,  the  sea-water  that 
fell  and  dried  upon  me,  caking  my  very  lips  with  salt, 
combined  to  make  my  throat  burn  and  my  brain  ache. 
-The  sight  of  the  trees  so  near  at  hand  had  almost 
made  me  sick  with  longing;  but  the  current  had  soon 
carried  me  past  the  point;  and,  as  the  next  reach  of 
the  sea  opened  out,  I  beheld  a  sight  that  ©hanged  the 
nature  of  my  thoughts. 

Right  in  front  of  me,  not  a  half  mile  away,  I  beheld 
the  "Hispaniola,"  under  sail.  I  made  sure,  of  course, 
that  I  should  be  taken;  but  I  was  so  distressed  for  want 
of  water,  that  I  scarce  knew  whether  to  be  glad  or 
sorry  at  the  thought;  and,  long  before  I  had  come  to  a 
conclusion,  surprise  had  taken  entire  possession  of  my 
mind,  and  I  could  do  nothing  but  stare  and  wonder. 

The  "Hispaniola"  was  under  her  mainsail  and  two 
jibs,  and  the  beautiful  white  canvas  shone  in  the  sun 
like  snow  or  silver.  When  I  first  sighted  her,  all  her 
sails  were  drawing;  she  was  lying  a  course  about  north- 
west; and  I  presumed  the  men  on  board  were  going 
round  the  island  pn  their  way  back  to  the  anchorage. 
Presently  she  began  to  fetch  more  and  more  to  the 
westward,  so  that  I  thought  they  had  sighted  me  and 
were  going  about  in  chase.  At  last,  however,  she  fell 
right  into  the  wind's  eye,  was  taken  dead  aback,  and 
stood  there  awhile  helpless,  with  her  sails  shivering. 

"Clumsy  fellows,"  said  I,  "they  must  still  be  drunk 
as  owls."  And  I  thought  how  Captain  SmollMit  would 
have  set  them  skipping. 

Meanwhile  the  schooner  gradually  fell  off,  and  filled 
again  upon  another  tack,  sailed  swiftly  for  a  minute 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  15* 

or  so,  and  brought  up  once  more  dead  in  the  wind's 
eye.  Again  and  again  was  this  repeated.  To  and  fro,, 
up  and  down,  north,  south,  east,  and  west  the  "His- 
paniolar,"  sailed  by  swoops  and  dashes,  and  at  each 
repetition  ended  as  she  had  begun,  with  idly  flapping 
canvas.  It  became  plain  to  me  that  nobody  was  steer- 
ing. And,  if  so,  where  were  the  men?  Either  they 
were  dead  drunk,  or  had  deserted  her,  I  thought,  and 
perhaps  if  I  could  get  on  board,  I  might  return  the 
vessel  to  her  captain. 

The  current  was  bearing  coracle  and  schooner  south- 
ward at  an  equal  rater  As  for  the  latter's  sailing,  it 
was  so  wild  and  intermittent,  and  she  hung  each  time 
so  long  in  irons,  that  she  certainly  gained  nothing,  if 
she  did  not  even  lose.  If  only  I  dared  to  sit  up  and 
paddle,  I  made  sure  that  I  could  overhaul  her.  The 
scheme  had  an  air  of  ad  venture  that  inspired  me,  and" 
the  thought  of,  the  water  breaker  beside  the  fo>e-com- 
panion  doubled  my  growing  courage. 

Up  I  got,  was  welcomed  almost  instantly  by  another 
cloud  of  spray,  but  this  time  stuck  to  my  purpose;  and 
set  myself  with  all  my  strength  and  caution  to  paddle 
after  the  unsteered  "Hispaniola."  Once  I  shipped  a 
sea  so  heavy  that  I  had  to  stop  and  bail,  with  my  heart 
fluttering  like  a  bird;  but  gradually  I  got  into  the  way 
of  the  thing,  and  guided  my  coracle  among  the  waves, 
with  only  now  and  then  a  blow  upon  her  bows  and  a 
dash  of  foam  in  my  face. 

I  was  nowgaining  rapidly  on  the  schooner;  I  could 
see  the  brass  glisten  on  the  tiller  as  it  banged  about: 
and  still  no  soul  appeared  upon  her  decks.  I  could  not 
choose  but  suppose  she  was  deserted.  If  not,  the  men 
were  lying  drunk  below,  where  I  might  batten  them 
down,  perhaps,  and  do  what  I  chose  with  the  3hip. 

For  some  time  she  had  been  doing  the  worst  thing 
possible  for  me — standing  still.  She  headed  nearly 
due  south,  yawing,  of  course,  all  the  time.    Each  time 


160  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

she  fell  off  her  sails  partly  filled",  and  these  brought 
her  in  a  moment,  right  to  the  wind  again.  I  have  said 
this  was  tne  worst  thing  possible  for  me;  for  helpless 
as  she  looked  in  this  situation,  with  the  canvas  crack- 
ling like  cannon,  and  the  blocks  trundling  and  bang- 
ing on  the  Seek,  she  still  continued  to  run  away  from 
me,  not  only  with  the  speed  of  the  current,  but  by 
the  whole  amount  of  her  leeway,  which  was  naturally 
great 

But  now,  at  last,  I  had  my  chance.  The  breeze  fell, 
for  some  seconds,  very  low,  and  the  current  gradually 
turning  her,  the  "Hispaniola"  revolved  slowly  round 
her  center,  and  at  last  presented  me  her  stern,  with 
the  cabin  window  still  gaping  open,  and  the  lamp  over 
the  table  still  burning  on  into  the  day.  The  mainsail 
hung  drooped  like  a  banner.  She  was  stock-still,  but 
for  the  current. 

For  the  last  little  while  I  had  even  lost;  but  now, 
redoubling  my  efforts,  I  began  once  more  to  overhaul 
the  chase, 

I  was  not  a  hundred  yards  from  her  when  the  wind 
came  again  in  a  clap;  she  filled  on  the  port  tack,  and 
was  off  again,  stooping  and  skimming  like  a  swallow. 

My  first  impulse  was  one  of  despair,  but  my  second 
was  toward  joy.  Round  she  came,  till  she  was  broad- 
side on  to  me — round  still  till  she  had  covered  a  half, 
and  then  two-thirds,  and  then  three  quarters  of  the 
distance  that  separated  us.  I  could  see  the  waves 
boiling  white  under  her  forefoot.  Immensely  tall  she 
looked  to  me  from  my  low  station  in  the  coracle. 

And  then,  of  a  sudden.  I  began  to  comprehend.  I 
had  scarce  time  to  think — scarce  time  to  act  and  save 
myself.  I  was  on  the  summit  of  one  swell  when  the 
schooner  came  stooping  over  the  next.  The  bowsprit 
was  over  my  head.  I  sprung  to  my  feet,  and  leaped, 
stamping  the  coracle  under  water.  With  one  hand  I 
caught  the  jib-boom,  while  my  foot  was  lodged  be- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  Ife. 

tween  the  stay  and  the  brace;  and  as  I  still  clung  there 
panting,  a  dull  blow  told  me  that  the  schooner  had 
charged  do wn'  upon  and  struck  the  coracle,  and  that 
I  was  left  without  retreat  on  the  "Hispanisla." 


CHAPTER  XXV, 

I  STRIKE  THE  JOLLY  ROGER. 

f  had  scarce  gained  a  position  on  the  bowsprit,  when 
the  flying  jib  flapped  and  filled  upon  the  other  tack, 
with  a  report  like  a  gun.  The  schooner  trembled  to 
her  keel  under  the  reverse;  but  next  moment,  the  other 
sails  still  drawing,  the  jib  "flapped  back  again,  and 
hung  idle. 

This  had  nearly  tossed  me  off  into  the  sea;  and  now 
I  lost  no  timfc,  crawled  back  along  the  bowsprit,  and 
tumbled  head-foremost  on  the  deck. 

I  was*n  the  lee  side  of  the  forecastle,  and  the  main- 
jail,  which  was  still  drawing,  concealed  from  me  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  after-deck.  Not  a  soul  was  to  be 
jeen.  The  planks,  which  had  not  been  swabbed  since 
the  mutiny,  bore  the  print  of  many  feet;  and  an  empty 
bottle,  broken  by  the  neck,  tumbled  to  and  fro  like  a 
live  thing  in  the  scuppers. 

Suddenly  the  "Hispaniola"  came  right  into  the  wind. 
The  jibs  behind  me  cracked  aloud;  the  rudder 
slammed  to;  the  whole  ship  gave  a  sickening  heave 
and  shudder;  and  at  the  same  moment  the  main-boom 
swung  inboard,  the  sheet  groaning  in  the  blocks,  and 
showed  me  the  lee  after-deck. 

There  were  the  two  watchmen,  sure  enough;  red-cap 
on  hiiS  back,  as  stiff  as  a  handspike,  with  his  arms 
Stretched  out  like  those  of  a  crucifix,  and  his  teeth 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  1«8 

showing  through  his  open  lips;  Israel  Hands  propped 
against  Q*e  bulwarks,  his  chin  on  his  chest,  his  hands 
lying  open  before  him  on  the  deck,  his  face  as  white, 
under  its  tan,  as  a  tallow  candle. 

For  awhile  the  ship  kept  bucking  and  sidling  like  a 
vicious  horse,  the  sails  filling,  now  on  one  tack,  now 
on  another,  and  the  boom  swinging  to  and  fro  till  the 
mast  groaned  aloud  under  the  strain.  Now  and  again, 
too,  there  would  come  a  cloud  of  light  sprays  over  the 
bulwark,  and  a  heavy  blow  of  the  ship's  bows  against 
the  swell — so  much  heavier  weather  was  made  of  it  by 
this  great*  rigged  ship  than  by  my  home-made,  lop- 
sided coracle,  now  gone  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

At  every  jump  of  the  schooner,  red-cap  slipped  to 
and  fro;  but — what  was  ghastly  to  behold — neither  his 
attitude  nor  his  fixed  teeth-disclosing  grin  was  any 
way  disturbed  by  this  rough  usage..  At  every  jump, 
too,  Hands  appeared  still  more  to  sink  into  himself 
and  settle  down  upon  the  deck,  his  feet  sliding  ever 
the  further  out,  and  the  whole  body  canting  toward  the 
stern,  so  that  his  face  became,  little  by  little,  hid  from 
me;  and  at  last  I  could  see  nothing  beyond  his  ear  and 
the  frayed  ringlet  of  one  whisker. 

At  the  same  time,  I  observed,  around  both  of  them, 
splashes  of  dark  blood  upon  the  planks,  and  began  to 
feel  sure  that  they  had  killed  each  other  in  their 
drunken  wrath. 

While  I  was  thus  looking  and  wondering,  in  a  calm 
snonient,  when  the  ship  was  still,  Israel  Hands  turned 
partly  round,  and,  with  a  low  moan,  writhed  himself 
back  to  the  position  in  which  I  had  seen  him  first.  The 
moan,  which  told  of  pain  and  deadly  weakness,  and 
the  way  in  which  his  jaw  hung  open,  went  right  to  my 
heart.  But  when  I  remembered  the  talk  I  had  over* 
heard  from  the  apple  barrel,  all  pity  left  me. 

I  walked  aft  until  I  reached  the  mainmast. 

"Come  aboard,  Mr.  Hands,"  I  said,  ironically 


364  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

He  roL<sd  hie  eyes  round  heavily;  but  he  was  too  far 
gone  to  express  surprise.  All  he  could  do  was  to  utter 
one  word,  "Brandy." 

It  occurred  to  me  there  was  no  time  to  lose;  and, 
dodging  the  boom  as  it  once  more  lurched  across  the 
deck,  I  slipped  aft,  and  down  the  companion-stairs  into 
the  cabin. 

It  was  such  a  scene  of  confusion  as  you  can  hardly 
fancy.  All  the  lockfast  places  had  been  broken  open  . 
in  quest  of  the  chart.  The  fLoor  was  thick  with  mud, 
where  ruffians  had  sat  down  to  drink  or  consult  after 
wading  in  the  marshes  round  their  camp.  The  bulk* 
heads,  all  painted  in  clear  white,  and  beaded  round 
with  gilt,  bore  a  pattern  of  dirty  hands.  Dozens  of 
empty  bottles  clinked  together  in  corners  to  the  roll* 
ing  of  the  ship.  One  of  the  doctor's  medical  books  lay 
open,  on  the  table,  half  of  the  leaves  gutted  out,  I  sup- 
pose, for  pipe-lights.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  the  lamp 
still  cast  a  smoky  glow,  obscure  and  brown  as  umber. 

I  went  into  the  cellar;  all  the  barrels  were  gone, 
and  of  the  bottles  a  most  surprising  number  had  been 
drunk  out  and  thrown  away.  Certainly*  since  the 
mutiny  began,  not  a  man  of  them  could  ever  have  been 
sober. 

Foraging  about,  I  found  a  bottle  with  some  brandy 
left,  for  Hands;  and  for  myself  I  routed  out  some  bis- 
cuit, some  pickle.d  fruits,  a  great  bunch  of  raisins,  and 
a  piece  of  cheese.  With  these  I  came  on  deck,  put 
down  my  own  stock  behind  the  rudder-head,  and  well 
out  o'  :he  cockswain's  reach,  went  forward  to'  the 
water-breaker,  and  nad  a  good,  deep  drink  of  water, 
and  then,  and  not  till  then,  gave  Hands  the  brandy. 

He  must  have-  drunk  a  gill  before  he  took  the  bottle 
from  his  mouth. 

"A£,"  saJS  he,  "by  thunder,  but  I  wanted  some  o* 
that** 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  166 

I  had  sat  down  already  in  my  own  earner  and  be* 
gan  to  eat. 

"Much  hurt?"  I  asked  him. 

He  grunted,  or*  rather,  I  might  say  he  barked. 

"If  that  doctor  was  aboard,"  he  said,  'Td  be  right 
snough  in  a  couple  of  turns;  but  I  don't  have  no  man- 
ner of  luck,  f  ou  see,  and  that's  what's  the  matter  with 
me.  As  for  that  swab,  he's  good  and  dead,  he  is,"  he 
added,  indicating  the  man  with  the  red  cap.  "He 
wara't  no  seaman,  anyhow.  And  where  mought  you 
have  come  from?" 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I've  come  aboard  to  take  posses- 
sion of  this  ship,  Mr.  Hands;  and  you'll  please  regard 
me  as  your  captain  until  further  notice." 

He  looked  at  me  sourly  enough,  but  said  nothing. 
Some  of  the  color  had  come  back  into  his  cheeks, 
though  he  still  looked  very  sick  and  still  continued  to 
slip  out  and  settle  down  as  the  ship  banged  about. 

"By  the  bye,"  I  continued,  "I  can't  have  these  col- 
ors, Mr.  Hands  j  and  by  your  leave  I'll  strike  'em.  Bet- 
ter none  than  these." 

And,  again  dodging  the  boom,  1  ran  to  the  color 
lines,  hauled  down  their  cursed  black  flag,  and  chucked 
it  overboard. 

"God  save  the  king!"  said  I,  waving  my  cap;  "and 
there's  an  end  to  Captain  Silver." 

He  watched,  me  keenly  and  slyly,  his  ehin  all  the 
while  on  his  breast. 

"I  reckon,"  he  said  at  last— "I  reckon,  Cap'n  Haw- 
kins, you'll  kind  of  want  to  get  ashore,  now.  S'pose 
we  talks." 

"Why,  yes,"  says  I,  "with  all  my  heart,  Mr.  Hands, 
Say  on."  And  I  went  back  to  my  meal  with  a  good  ap- 
petite. 

"This  man,"  he  began,  nodding  feebly  at  thu  corpse 
—"O'Brien  were  his  name — a  rank  Irelander — this  man 
and  me  got  the  canvas  on  her,  meaning  for  to  sal!  bei 


166  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

back.  Weil,  he's  dead  now,  he  is — as  dead  as  bilge? 
and  who's  to  sail  this  ship,  I  don't  see.  Without  I  give 
you  a  hint,,  you  ain't  that  man,  as  far's  I  can  tell.  Now, 
look  here,  you  gives  me  food  and  drink,  and  an  old 
scarf  or  ankecher  to  tie  my  wound  up,  you  do ;  and  I'll 
tell  you  how  to  sail  her;  and  that's  about  square  all 
round,  I  take  it.' 

'TH  tell  you  one  thing,"  says  I;  "I'm  not  going  back 
to  Captain  Kidd's  anchorage.  I  mean  to  get  into  North 
Inlet,  and  beach  her  quietly  there." 

"To  be  sure  you  did,"  he  cried.  "Why,  I  ain't  sich 
an  infernal  lubber,  after  all.  I  can  see,  can't  I?  I've 
tried  my  fling,  I  have,  and  I've  lost,  and  it's  you  has 
the  wind  of  me.  North  Inlet?  Why,  I  haven't  no 
ch'ice,  not  I!  I'd  help  you  sail  her  un  to  Execution 
Dock,  by  thunder!  so  I  would." 

Well,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  there  was  some  sense  in 
this.  We  struck  our  bargain  on  the  spot.  In  three 
minutes  I  had  the  "Hispaniola"  sailing  easily  before 
the  wind  along  the  coast  of  Treasure  Island,  with  good 
hopes  of  turning  the  northern  point  ere  noon,  and 
beating  down  again  as  far  as  North  Inlet  before  high 
water,  when  we  might  beach  her  safely,  and  wait  till 
the  subsiding  tide  permitted  us  to  land. 

Then  I  lashed  the  tiller  and  went  below  to  my  own 
chest,  where  I  got  a  soft  silk  handkerchief  of  my 
mother's.  Y/ith  this,  and  with  my  aid,  Hands  bound 
up  the  great  bleeding  stab  he  had  received  in  the 
thigh,  and  after  he  had  eaten  a  little  and  had  a  swal- 
low or  two  more  of  the  brandy,  he  began  to  pick  up 
visibly,  sat  straighter  up,  spoke  louder  and  clearer, 
and  looked  in  every  way  another  man. 

The  breeze  served  us  admirably.  We  skimmed  be- 
fore it  like  a  bird,  the  coast  of  the  island  flashing  by, 
and  the  view  changing  every  minute.  Soon  we  were 
past  the  high  lands  and  bowling  beside  low,  sandy 
country,  sparsely  dotted  with  dwarf  pines,  and  soon 


TREASURE  ISLiAND.  u# 

me  were  beyond  that  again,  and  had  turned  the  corner 
Of  the  rocky  hill  that  ends  the  island  on  the  north. 

I  was  greatly  elated  with  my  new  command,  and 
pleased  with  the  bright,  sunshiny  weather  and  these 
different  prospects  of  the  coast.  I  had  now  plenty  of 
water  and  good  things  to  eat,  and  my  conscience,  which 
had  smitten  me  hard  for  my  desertion,  was  quieted 
by  the  great  conquest  I  had  made.  I  should,  I  think, 
have  had  nothing  left  to  desire  but  for  the  eyes  of  the 
cockswain  as  they  followed  me  derisively  about  the 
deck,  and  the  odd  smile  that  appeared  continually  on 
his  face.  It  was  a  smile  that  had  in  it  something  both 
of  pain  and  weakness — a  haggard,  old  man's  smile; 
but  there  was,  besides  that,  a  grain  of  derision,  a  shad- 
ow of  treachery,  in  his  expression  as  he  craftily 
watched,  and  watched,  and  watched  me  at  my  worfe. 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

ISRAEL    HANDS. 

The  W&L&,  serving  us  to  a  desire,  now  hauled  into 
the  west  We  eould  run  so  much  the  easier  from  the 
northwest  corner  of  the  island  to  the  mouth  of  the 
North  Xniei.  Only,  as  we  had  no  power  to  anchor, 
and  dared  not  beach  her  till  the  tide  had  flowed  a  good 
deal  further,  time  hung  on  our  hands.  The  cockswain 
told  me  how  to  lay  the  ship  to;  after  a  good  many  trials 
I  succeeded,  and  we  both  sat  in  silence,  over  another 
meal, 

f*Cap'n,"  said  he,  at  length,  with  that  same  uncom- 
fortable smile,  "here's  my  old  shipmate,  O'Brien; 
s'pose  you  was  to  heave  him  overboard.  I  ain't  par- 
fcttflar  as  a  rule,  and  I  don't  take  no  blame  for  settling 
hft  hash;  bu£  I  don't  reckon  him  ornamental,  now,  do 
yosP* 

*Tm  not  strong  enough,  and  I  don't  like  the  job; 
and  there  he  lies,  for  me,"  said  I. 

**fftis  here's  an  unlucky  ship — the  'Hispanlola,' 
Jiffir"  he  went  on,  blinking.  "There's  a  power  of  men 
been  frilled  in  this  'Hispaniola'— a  sight  o'  poor  sea- 
men dead  and  gone  since  you  and  me  took  ship  to 
Bristol,  I  never  seen  such  dirty  luck,  not  L  There 
was  this  here  O'Brien,  now— he's  dead,  ain't  he?  Well, 
now,  I'm  no  scholar,  and  you're  a  lad  as  can  rear*  and 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  169 

figure;  and,  to  put  it  straight,  do  you  take  it  as  a  dead 
man  is  dead  for  good,  or  do  he  come  alive  again?" 

"You  can  kill  the  body,  Mr.  Hands,  but  not  the 
spirit;  you  must  know  that  already,"  I  replied. 
"O'Brien,  there,  is  in  another  world,  and  may  be 
watching  us." 

"Ah!"  says  he.  "Well,  that's  unfort'nate — appears 
as  if  killing  parties  was  a  waste  of  time.  Howsomever, 
sperrits  don't  reckon  for  much,  by  what  I've  seen.  I'll 
chance  it  with  the  sperrits,  Jim.  And  now,  you've 
spoke  up  free,  and  I'll  take  it  kind  if  you'd  step  down 
into  that  there  cabin  and  get  me  a— well,  a--shiver 
my  timbers!  I  can't  hit  the  name  on't;  well,  you  get 
me  a  bottle  of  wine,  Jim — this  here  brandy's  too  strong 
for  my  head." 

Now  the  cockswain's  hesitation  seemed  to  be  unnat- 
ural; and  as  for  the  notion  of  his  preferring  wine  to 
brandy,  I  entirely  disbelieved  it.  The  whole  story  was 
a  pretext.  He  wanted  me  to  leave  the  deck — so  much 
was  plain;  but  with  what  purpose  I  could  In  no  way 
imagine.  His  eyes  never  met  mine;  they  kept  wander- 
ing to  and  fro,  up  and  down,  now  with  a  look  to  the 
sky,  now  with  a  flitting  glance  upon  the  dead  0'3rien. 
All  the  time  he  kept  smiling,  and  putting  his  tongue 
out  in  the  most  guilty,  embarrassed  manner,  so  that 
a  child  could  have  told  that  he  was  bent  on  some  de- 
ception. I  was  prompt  with  my  answer,  however,  for 
I  saw  where  my  advantage  lay;  and  that  with  a  fellow 
so  densely  stupid  I  could  easily  conceal  my  suspicions 
to  the  end. 

"Some  wine*?"  I  said.  "Far  better.  Will  you  have 
white  or  red?" 

"Well,  I  reckon  it's  about  the  blessed  same  to  me, 
shipmate,"  he  replied;  "so  It's  strong,  and  plenty  of 
it,  what's  the  odds?" 

"All  right/'  I  answered.  "I'll  bring  you  po«^  Mr, 
Hands.    But  I'll  have  to  dig  for  it." 


170  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

With  that  I  scuttled  down  the  companion  with  all 
the  noise  I  could,  slipped  off  my  shoes,  ran  quietly 
along  the  sparred  gallery,  mounted  the  forecastle  lad- 
der, and  popped  my  head  out  of  the  fore  companion. 
I  knew  he  would  not  expect  to  see  me  there;  yet  I  took 
every  precaution  possible;  and  certainly  the  worst  of 
my  suspicions  proved  too  true. 

He  had  risen  from  his  position  to  his  hands  and 
knees;  and,  though  his  leg  obviously  hurt  him  pretty 
sharply  when  he  moved — for  I  could  hear  him  stifle  a 
groan — yet  it  was  at  a  good,  rattling  rate  that  he  trailed 
himself  half  across  the  deck.  In  half  a  minute  he  had 
reached  the  port  scuppers,  and  picked,  out  of  a  coil  of 
rope,  a  long  knife,  or  rather  a  short  dirk,  discolored 
to  the  hilt  with  blood.  He  looked  upon  it  for  a  mo- 
ment, thrusting  forth  his  under  jaw,  tried  to  point 
upon  his  hand,  and  then,  hastily  concealing  it  in  the 
bosom  of  his  jacket,  trundled  back  again  into  his  old 
place  against  the  bulwark. 

This  was  all  that  I  required  to  know.  Israel  could 
move  about;  he  was  now  armed;  and  if  he  had  been 
at  so  much  trouble  to  get  rid  of  me,  it  was  plain  that 
I  was  meant  to  be  the  victim.  What  he  would  do 
afterward — whether  he  would  try  to  crawl  right  across 
the  island  from  North  Inlet  to  the  camp  among  the 
swamps,  or  whether  he  would  fire  Long  Tom,  trusting 
that  his  own  comrades  might  come  first  to  help  him, 
was,  of  course,  more  than  I  could  say. 

Yet  I  felt  sure  that  I  could  trust  him  in  one  point, 
since  in  that  our  interests  jumped  together,  and  that 
was  in  the  disposition  of  the  schooner.  We  both  de- 
sired to  have  her  stranded  safe  enough,  in  a  sheltered 
place,  and  so  that,  when  the  time  came,  she  could  be 
got  off  again  with  as  little  labor  and  danger  as  niigh* 
be;  and  until  that  was  done  I  considered  that  my  life 
would  certainly  be  spared. 

While  I  was  thus  turning  the  business  over  in  my 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  Ill 

mind  I  had  not  been  idle  with  my  body.  I  had  stolen 
back  to  the  cabin,  slipped  once  more  into  my  shoes, 
and  laid  my  hand  at  random  on  a  bottle  of  wine,  and 
now,  with  this  for  an  excuse,  I  made  my  reappearance 
on  the  deck. 

Hands  lay  as  I  had  left  him,  all  fallen  together  in  a 
bundle,  and  with  his  eyelids  lowered,  as  though  he 
werevtoo  weak  to  bear  the  light.  He  looked  up,  how- 
ever, at  my  coming,  knocked  the  neck  off  the  bottle, 
like  a  man  who  had  done  the  same  thing  often,  and 
took  a  good  swig,  with  his  favorite  toast  of  "Here's 
luck!"  Then  he  lay  quiet  for  a  little,  and  then,  pulling 
out  a  stick  of  tobacco,  begged  me  to  cut  him  a  quid. 

"Cut  me  a  junk  o'  that,"  says  he,  "for  I  haven't  no 
knife,  and  hardly  strength  enough,  so  be  as  I  had.  Ah, 
Jim,  Jim,  I  reckon  I've  missed  stays!  Cut  me  a  quid 
as'll  likely  be  the  last,  lad;  for  I'm  for  my  long  home, 
and  no  mistake." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I'll  cut  you  some  tobacco;  but  if  I 
was  you  and  thought  myself  so  badly,  I  would  go  to 
my  prayers,  like  a  Christian  man." 

"Why?"  said  he.    "Now,  you  tell  me  why." 

"Why?"  I  cried.  "You  were  asking  me  just  now 
about  the  dead.  You've  broken  your  trust;  you've 
lived  in  sin  and  lies  and  blood;  there's  a  man  you 
killed  lying  at  your  feet  this  moment;  and  you  ask  me 
why!    For  God's  mercy,  Mr.  Hands,  that's  why." 

I  spoke  with  a  little  heat,  thinking  of  the  bloody  dirk 
he  had  hidden  in  his  pocket,  and  designed,  in  his  ill 
thoughts,  to  end  me  with.  He,  for  his  part,  took  a 
great  draught  of  the  wine,  and  spoke  with  the  most 
unusual  solemnity. 

"For  thirty  year,"  he  said,  "I've  sailed  the  seas,  and 
seen  good  and  bad,  better  and  worse,  fair  weather  and 
foul,  provisions  running  out,  knives  going,  and  what 
not.  Well,  now  I  tell  you,  I  never  seen  good  come  o' 
goodness  yet.    Him  as  strikes  first  is  my  fancy;  dead 


172  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

men  don't  bite;  them's  my  views — amen,  so  be  ,v.  And 
now,  you  look  here,"  he  added,  suddenly  changing  his 
tone,  "we've  had  about  enough  of  this  foolery.  The 
tide's  made  good  enough  by  now.  You  just  take  my 
orders,  Cap's  Hawkins,  and  we'll  sail  slap  in  and  be 
done  with  it." 

Ail  told,  we  had  scarce  two  miles  to  run;  but  the 
navigation  was  delicate,  the  entrance  to  this  northern 
anchorage  was  not  only  narrow  and  shoal,  but  lay  east 
and  west,  so  that  the  schooner  must  be  nicely  handled 
to  be  got  in.  I  think  I  was  a  good,  prompt  subaltern, 
and  I  am  very  sure  that  Hands  was  an  excellent  pilot; 
for  we  went  about  and  about,  and  dodged  in,  shaving 
the  banks,  with  a  certainty  and  a  neatness  that  were 
a  pleasure  to  behold. 

Scarcely  had  we  passed  the  head  before  the  land 
closed  around  us.  The  shores  of  North  Inlet  were  as 
thickly  wooded  as  those  of  the  southern  anchorage; 
but  the  space  was  longer  and  narrower,  and  more  like, 
what  in  truth  it  was,  the  estuary  of  a  river.  Right 
before  us,  at  the  southern  end,  we  saw  the  wreck  of  a 
ship  in  the  last  stages  of  dilapidation.  It  had  been  a 
great  vessel  of  three  masts,  but  had  lain  so  long  ex- 
posed to  the  injuries  of  the  weather,  that  it  was  hung 
about  with  great  webs  of  dripping  sea-weed,  and  on 
the  dfeok  of  it  shore  bushes  had  taken  root,  and  now 
flourished  thick  with jflowers.  It  was  a  sad  sight,  but 
it  showed  us  that  the  Anchorage  was  calm. 

"Now,"  said  Hands,  "look  there;  there's  a  pet  bit  for 
to  beach  a  ship  in.  Fine  flat  sand,  never  a  satspaw, 
trees  all  around  of  it,  and  flowere  a-bl owing  like  a 
garding  on  that  old  ship." 

"And  onoe  beaohed,"  I  inquired,  "how  shall  we  get 
her  off  again?" 

"Why,  so;"  he  replied;  "you  take  a  line  ashore  there 
on  the  other  side  at  low  water;  take  a  turn  about  one 
o*  thegri  big  pines;  bring  it  back,  take  a  turn  round  the 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  173 

capstan*  and  lie  to  for  the  tide.  Come  high  water,  all 
hands  take  a  pull  upon  the  line,  and  off  she  comes  as 
sweet  as  natur'.  And  now,  boy,  you  stang  fcy.  We're 
near  the  bit  now,  and  she's  too  much  way  on  her. 
Starboard  a  little — so — steady — starboard — larboard 
a  little — steady — steady!" 

So  he  issued  his  commands,  which  I  breathlessly 
obeyed;  till,  all  of  a  sudden,  he  cried,  "No.  ,  my 
hearty,  luff!"  And  I  put  the  helm  hard  up,  and  the 
"Hispaniola"  swung  round  rapidly,  and  ran  stem  on 
for  the  low- wooded  shore. 

The  excitement  of  these  last  maneuvers  had  some- 
what interfered  with  the  watch  I  had  kept  hitherto, 
sharply  enough,  upon  the  cockswain.  Even  then  I  was 
still  so  much  interested,  waiting  for  the  ship  to  touch, 
that  I  had  quite  forgot  the  peril  that  hung  over  my 
head,  and  stood  craning  over  the  starfeoard  bulwarks 
and  watching  the  ripples  spreading  wfcfe  before  the 
bows.  I  might  have  fallen  without  a  struggle  for  my 
life,  had, not  a  sudden  disquietude  seized  upon  me,  and 
made  me  turn  my  head.  Perhaps  I  had  heard  a  creak, 
or  seen  his  shadow  moving  with  the  tail  of  my  eye: 
perhaps  it  was  an  instinct  like  a  eat*s;  but,  sure 
enough,  when  I  looked  round,  there  was  Hands,  al- 
ready half-way  toward  me,  with  the  dirk  In  his  right 
hand. 

We  must  both  have  cried  out  aloud  when  our  eyes 
met;  but  while  mine  was  the  shrill  cry  et  terror,  his 
was  a  roar  of  fury  like  a  charging  bull's.  At  the  same 
instant  he  threw  himself  forward,  and  I  leaped  side- 
ways toward  the  bows.  As  I  did  so  I  left  feold  of  the 
tiller,  which  sprung  sharp  to  leeward;  and  I  think  this 
saved  my  life,  for  it  struck  Hands  across  the  eliest,  and 
stopped  him,  for  the  moment,  dead. 

Before  he  could  recover  I  was  safe  out  of  the  cornei* 
where  he  had  me  trapped,  with  all  the  deck  to  dodge 
about.    Just  forward  of  the  mainmast  I  stopped,  drew 


174  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

a  pistol  from  my  pocket,  took  a  cool  aim,  though  he 
had  already  turned  and  was  once  more  coming  directly 
after  me,  and  drew  the  trigger.  The  hammer  fell,  but 
there  followed  neither  flash  nor  sound;  the  priming 
was  useless  with  seawater.  I  cursed  myself  for  my 
neglect.  Why  had  not  I,  long  before,  reprimed  and 
reloads  my  only  weapons?  Then  I  should  not  have 
been  as  now,  a  mere  fleeing  sheep  before  this  butcher. 

Wounded  as  he  was,  it  was  wonderful  how  fast  he 
couid  move,  his  grizzled  hair  tumbling  over  his  face, 
and  his  face  itself  as  red  as  a  red  ensign  with  his  haste 
and  fury.  I  had  no  time  to  try  my  other  pistol,  nor, 
indeed,  much  inclination,  for  I  was  sure  it  would  *be 
useless.  One  thing  I  saw  plainly;  I  must  not  simply 
retreat  before  him,  or  he  would  speedily  hold  me  boxed 
into  the  bows,  as  a  moment  since  he  had  so  nearly 
boxed  me  in  the  stern.  Once  so  caught,  and  nine  or 
ten  inches  of  the  blood-stained  dirk  would  be  my  last 
experience  on  this  side  of  eternity.  I  placed  my  palms 
against  the  mainmast,  which  was  of  a  goodish  bigness, 
and  waited,  every  nerve  upon  the  stretch. 

Seeing  that  I  meant  to  dodge  he  also  paused,  and  a 
moment  or  two  passed  in  feints  on  his  part  and  corre- 
sponding movements  upon  mine.  It  was  such  a  game 
as  I  had  often  played  at  home  about  the;  rocks  of  Black 
Hill  Cove;  but  never  before,  you  may  be  sure,  with 
such  a  wildly  beating  heart  as  now.  Still,  as  I  say,  it 
was  a  boy's  game,  and  I  thought  I  could  hold  my  own 
at  it  against  an  elderly  seaman  with  a  wounded  thigh. 
Indeed,  my  courage  had  begun  to  rise  so  high  that  I 
allowed  myself  a  few  darting  thoughts  on  what  would 
be  the, end  of  the  affair;  and  while  I  saw  certainly  that 
I  could  spin  it  out  for  long,  I  saw  no  hope  of  any  ulti- 
mate escape. 

Well,  while  things  stood  thus,  suddenly  the  "His- 
paniola"  struck,  staggered,  ground  for  an  Instant  in 
the  sand,  and  then,  swift  as  a  blow,  canted  over  to  the 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  175 

fK>rt  side,  till  the  deck  stood  at  an  angle  of  forty-five 
degrees,  and  about  a  puncheon  of  water  splashed  into 
the  scupper-holes,  and  lay  in  a  pool  between  the  deck 
and  bulwarks. 

We  w?re  both  of  us  capsized  in  a  second,  and  both  of 
us  rolled,  almost  together,  into  the  scuppers;  the  dead 
red-cap,  with  his  arms  still  spread  out,  tumbling  stiffly 
after  us.  So  near  were  we,  indeed,  that  my  head  came 
against  the  cockswain's  foot  with  a  crack  that  made 
my  teeth  rattle.  Blow  and  all,  I  was  the  first  afoot 
again,  for  Hands  had  got  involved  with  the  dead  body. 
The  sudden  canting  of  the  ship  had  made  the  deck  no 
place  for  running  on;  I  had  to  find  some  new  way  of 
escape,  and  that  upon  the  instant,  for  my  foe  was  al- 
most touching.  Quick  as  thought,  I  sprung  into  the 
niizzen-shrouds,  rattled  up  hand  over  hand,  and  did 
not  draw  a  breath  till  I  was  seated  on  the  cross-trees. 

I  had  been  saved  by  being  prompt;  the  dirk  had 
struck  not  a  half  a  foot  below  me,  as  I  pursued  my  up- 
ward flight;  and  there  stood  Israel  Hands  with  his 
mouth  open  and  his  face  upturned  to  mine,  a  perfect 
statue  of  surprise  and  disappointment. 

Now  that  I  had  a  moment  to  myself,  I  lost  no  time 
in  changing  the  priming  of  my  pistol,  and  then,  having 
one  ready  for  service,  and  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  I  proceeded  to  djaw  the  load  of  the  other,  and 
recharge  it  afresh  from  the  beginning. 

My  new  employment  struck  Hands  all  of  a  heap;  he 
began  to  see  the  dice  going  against  him;  and  after  an 
abvious  hesitation,  he  also  hauled  himself  heavily  into 
the  shrouds,  and,  with  the  dirk  in  his  teeth,  began 
slowly  and  painfully  to  mount.  It  cost  him  no  end  of 
time  and  groans  to  haul  his  wounded  leg  behind  him; 
and  I  had  quietly  finished  my  arrangements  before  he 
was  much  more  than  a  third  of  the  way  up.  Then,  with 
a  pistol  in  either  hand,  I  addressed  him: 

"One  more  step,  Mr,  Hands,"  said  L  "and  I'll  blow 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND 

four  brain**  out!  Dead  men  don't  bite,  you  kmhp,  1 
added,  with  a  chuckle. 

He  stopped  instantly.  I  could  see  by  the  workings  of 
sis  lace  that  he  was  trying  to  think,  and  the  premise 
sras  bo  alow  and  laborious  that  in  my  new»fouBd 
security,  I  laughed  aloud.  At  last,  with  a  swallow  or 
two,  he  spoke,  his  face  still  wearing  the  same  expree 
sloe  of  extreme  perplexity.  In  order  to  apeak  he  had 
te»  take  the  dagger  from  his  mouth,  but,  in  all  else,  hs 
remained  unmoved. 

"  Jim,"  says  he,  "I  reckon  we're  fouled,  you  and  «*** 
sad  well  have  to  sign  articles.  Td  have  had  yen  bs* 
tar  that  there  lurch ;  tut  I  aont  have  no  lucfcc  »**i  1 1 
*od  1  reckon  TO  have  to  strike,  which  eonw  &•*&,  |«* 
ise,  for  a  master  mariner  to  a  ship's  yoaakst  Iflfes  y»a, 

1  was  drinking  is  his  words  and  amfi&tg  aw^y,  ee 
conceited  as  a  cock  upon  a  walk,  wh&&,  all  i&  a  tae*&&< 
back  went  his  right  hand  over  his  shoulder.  So**- 
thing  sung  like  an  arrow  through  the  air  1 1  fell  a  blew 
and  then  a  sharp  pang,  and  there  1  was  pinned  by  tfc» 
shoulder  to  the  mast.  In  the  horrid  pain  of  surprise  of 
ihe  moment— 1  scarce  can  say  it  was  by  my  own  *$&• 
*son,  and  I  am  sure  ft  was  without  a  oonseioes  atsa— 
wsth  my  pistols  went  off,  and  both  tsesvped  evt  of  sy 
hands.  They  did  not  fall  alone  i  with  a  shpfesd^yt&s 
soehswain  loosed  his  grasp  upon  t&g-  s&m&& 
*}&&$*&  'm&&  %?M  Sat©  " 


mm&MQm  mhsm> 


fttt  o*«f  *&s  wets?,  and  from  my  perch  oe  i&*  sr*£s* 
$>m  X  had  nothing  below  me  but  the  surface  o2  tbs 
say.  Hands,  wfeo  was  not  so  iar  as*  wa^  u>  %ii^ 
franco,  nearer  i>e>  she  ship*  and  fell  between  m&  *&& 
-km  fe^iw&iks  Ms  rose  once  to  the  surface  as  *  lathe? 
^  £p«i^  ib&d  ISood,  and  then  sunk  again  I ox  good.  As 
*&$  water  sstsieo,  I  could  see  him  lying  huddled  te- 
l*&to  e»  the  sieaa,  fcright  sand  in  the  shadow  of  t&* 
ttsssaife  side*  A  3a&  a*  two  whipped  past  his  ho^: 
i^asaetiaGies.  bj  the  qnivenng'  of  the  water,  he  appeared 
■»-«ave  %  little,  as  If  he  were  trying  to  rise*  Bat  2te 
«es  dead  &&&ugh  for  all  that,  being  both  shot  aai 
Jmraed,  a*£  was  food  lor  fish  la  the  very  place  iMi 
*&  had  designed  my  slaughter. 

£  was  re  sooner  eartaln  of  this  than  1  began  to  tarn. 
agsfe*  feifet  and  terrified  The  hot  blood  was  running 
iffcr  my  haes  and  ehe&t  Tk»  dirk,  where  it  hfci 
leaned  mj  shoulder  to  the  mast,  seemed  to  burr.  lis* 
i  hot  irca?  yet  it  was  £ot  so  much  these  real  saJtesr 
ssga  that  distressed  me,  lor  these,  it  seemed  to  m%  § 
#aal&  bear  without  a  ibqtesu?!  it  was  the  hotwrn  I  *fc£ 

»££*  SSf  ISSEai  <£  &£&&£  &»fS  tl«  @£t£-&HSeg  iftiftft  $w>s 


178  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

still  green  water,  beside  the  body  of  the  cockswain. 

I  clung  with  both  hands  till  my  nails  ached,  and  1 
shut  my  eyes  as  if  to  cover  up  the  peril.  Gradually 
my  mind  came  back  again,  my  pulses  quieted  down  to 
ri  more  natural  time,  and  I  was  once  more  in  possession 
if  myself. 

It  was  my  first  thought  to  pluck  forth  the  dirk;  but 
either  it  stuck  too  hard  or  my  nerve  failed  me;  and  I 
desisted  with  a  violent  shudder.  Oddly  enough,  that 
very  shudder  did  the  business.  The  knife,  in  fact,  had 
come  the  nearest  in  the  world  to  missing  me  alto- 
gether; it  held  me  by  a  mere  pinch  of  skin,  and  this 
the  shudder  tore  away.  The  blood  ran  down  the 
faster,  to  be  sure;  but  I  was  my  own  master  again,  and 
only  tacked  to  the  mast  by  my  coat  and  shirt. 

These  last  I  broke  through  with  a  sudden  jerk,  and 
then  regained  the  deck  by  the  starboard  shrousis.  For 
nothing  in  the  world  would  I  have  again  ventured, 
shaken  as  I  was,  upon  the  overhanging  port  shrouds, 
from  which  Israel  had  so  lately  fallen. 

I  went  below,  and  did  what  I  could  for  my  wound; 
it  pained  me  a  good  deal,  and  still  bled  freely;  but  it 
was  neither  deep  nor  dangerous,  nor  did  it  greatly  gall 
me  when  I  used  my  arm.  Then  I  looked  around  me, 
and  as  the  ship  was  now,  in  a  sense,  my  own,  I  began 
to  think  of  clearing  it  from  its  last  passenger — the 
dead  man,  O'Brien. 

He  had  pitched,  as  I  have  said,  against  the  bulwarks, 
where  he  lay  with  some  horrible,  ungainly  sort  of 
puppet;  life-size,  indeed,  but  how  different  from  life's 
color  or  life's  comeliness!  In  that  position,  I  could 
easily  have  my  way  with  him;  and  as  the  habit  of 
tragical  adventures  had  worn  off  almost  all  my  terror 
for  the  dead,  I  took  him  by  the  waist  as  if  he  had  been  ' 
a  sack  of  bran,  and,  with  one  good  heave,  tumbled 
him  overboard.  He  went  in  w^ith  a  sounding  plunge; 
the  red  cap  came  off,  and  remained  floating  on  the  sur* 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  ITS 

fece;  and  as  soon  as  the  splash  subsided,  I  could  see 
him  and  Israel  lying  side  by  side,  both  wavering  with 
the  tremulous  movement  of  the  water.  O'Brien,  though 
still  quite  a  young  man,  was  very  bald.  There  he  lay, 
with  that  bald  head  across  t^e  knees  of  the  man  who 
had  killed  him,  and  the  quick  fishes  steering  to  and 
fro  over  both. 

I  was  now  alone  upon  the  ship;  the  tide  had  just 
turned.  The  sun  was  within  so  few  degrees  of  setting 
that  already  the  shadow  of  the  pines  upon  the  west- 
ern shore  began  to  reach  right  across  the  anchorage, 
and  fall  in  patterns  on  the  deck.  The  evening  breeze 
had  sprung  up,  and  though  it  was  well  warded  off  by 
the  hill  with  the  two  pealis  upon  the  east,  the  cordage 
had  begun  to  sing  a  little  softly  to  itself  and  the  idle 
sails  to  rattle  to  and  fro. 

I  began  to  see  a  danger  "to  the  ship.  The  jibs  I 
speedily  doused  and  brought  tumbling  to  the  deck;  but 
the  faainsail  was  a  harder  matter.  Of  course,  when 
the  schooner  canted  over,  the  boom  had  swung  out- 
board, and  the  cap  of  it  and  a  foot  or  two  of  sail  hung 
even  under  water.  I  thought  this  made  it  still  more 
dangerous;  yet  the  strain  was  so  heavy  that  I  half 
feared  to  meddle.  At  last  I  got  my  knife  and  cut  the- 
halyard.  The  peak  dropped  instantly,  a  great  belly 
of  loose  canvas  floated  broad  upon  the  water;  and  since, 
pull  as  I  liked,  I  eould  not  bulge  the  downhaul,  that 
was  the  extent  of  what  I  could  accomplish.  For  the 
rest,  the  "Hispaniola"  must  trust  to  luck,  like  myself. 

By  this  time  the  whole  anchorage  had  fallen  into 
shadow — the  last  rays,  I  remember,  falling  through  a 
glade  of  the  wood,  and  shining  bright  as  jewels,  on  the 
flowery  mantle  of  the  wreck.  It  began  to  be  chill;  the 
tide  was  rapidly  fleeting  seaward,  the  schooner  set- 
tling more  and  more  on  her  beam-ends. 

I  scrambled  forward  and  looked  over.  It  seemed 
Shallow  enough,  and  holdiag  the  cut  hawser  in  both 


18*  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

hands  for  a  last  security,  I  let  myself  drop  softly  over* 
board,  The  water  scarcely  reached  my  waist;  toe  sand 
was  firm  and  covered  with  ripple-marks,  and  I  waded 
ashore  in  great  spirits,  leaving  the  "Hispaniola"  on 
her  side,  with  her  mainsail  tralliag  wide  upon  the 
surface  of  the  bay.  About  the  same  time  the  sun  went 
fairly  down,  and  the  breeze  whistled  low  in  the  dusk 
among  the  tossing  pines. 

:.  At  least,  and  at  last,  I  was  off  the  sea,  nor  had  I  re- 
turned thence  empty-handed.  There  lay  the  schooner, 
clear  at  last  from  buccaneers  and  ready  for  our  own 
men  to  board  and  get  to  sea  again.  I  had  nothing 
nearer  my  fancy  than  to  get  home  to  the  stockade  and 
boast  of  my  achievements.  Possibly  I  might  be  blamed 
a  bit  for  my  truancy,  but  the  recapture  of  the  "His- 
paniola"  was  a  clinching  answer,  and  I  hoped  that 
even  Captain  Smollett  would  confess  I  had  not  lost 
my  time. 

So  thinking,  and  in  famous  spirits,  I  began  to  set  my 
face  homeward  for  the  block-house  and  my  compan- 
ions. I  remembered  that  the  most  easterly  of  the  riv- 
ers which  drain  into  Captain  Kidd's  anchorage  ran 
from  the  two-peaked  hill  upon  my  left;  and  I  bent  my 
course  in  that  direction  that  I  might  pass  the  stream 
while  it  was  small.  The  wood  was  pretty  open,  and 
keeping  along  the  lower  spurs,  I  had  soon  turned  the 
corner  of  that  hill,  and  not  long  after  waded  to  the 
mid-calf  across  the  water-course. 

This  brought  me  near  to  where  I  had  encountered 
Ben  Gunn,  the  maroon;  and  I  walked  more  circum- 
spectly, keeping  an  eye  on  every  side.  The  dusk  had 
come  nighhand  completely,  and.^as  I  opened  out  the 
cleft  between  the  two  peaks,  I  became  aware  of  a  wa- 
vering glow  against  the  sky,  where,  as  I  judged,  the 
man  of  the  island  was  cooking  his  supper  before  a 
roaring  fire.  And  yet  I  wondered,  in  my  heart,  that 
he  should  show  himself  so  careless.   For  if  I  could  see 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  18* 

this  radiance,  might  it  not  reach  the  eye  ef  SUvei*  him- 
self where  he  camped  upon  the  shore  among  the 
marshes? 

Gradual!:/  the  night  fell  blacker;  it  was  all  I  could  do 
to  guide  myself  even  roughly  toward  my  destination; 
the  double  hill  behind  me  and  the  Spy-glass  on  my 
right  hand  loomed  faint  and  fainter;  the  stars  were 
few  and  pale;  and  in  the  low  ground  where  I  wan- 
dered I  kept  tripping  among  bushes  and  rolling  into 
sandy  pits. 

Suddenly  a  Kind  of  brightness  fell  about  me.  I 
looked  up;  a  pale  glimmer  of  moonbeams  had  alighted 
on  the  summit  of  the  Spy-glass,  and  soon  alter  I  saw 
something  broad  and  silvery  moving  low  down  behind 
the  trees,  and  knew  the  moon  had  risen. 

With  this  to  help  me,  I  passed  rapidly  over  what  re- 
mained to  me  of  my  journey;  and,  sometimes  walking, 
sometimes  running,  impatiently  drew  near  to  the 
stockade.  Yet,  as  I  began  to  thread  the  grove  that  lies 
before  it,  I  was  not  so  thoughtless  but  that  I  slacked 
my  pace  and  went  a  trifle  warily.  It  would  have  been 
a  poor  end  of  my  adventures  to  get  shot  down  by  my 
own  party  in  mistake. 

The  moon  was  climbing  higher  and  higher;  its  light 
began  to  fall  here  and  there  in  masses  through  the 
more  open  districts  of  the  wood;  and  right  in.  front  of 
me  a  glow  ©f  a  different  cekr  appeared  among  the 
trees.  It  was  red  and  hot,  and  now  and  again  it  was 
a  little  darkened— as  it  were  the  embers  of  a  bonfire 
smoldering. 

For  the  l&e  of  me.  I  eould  not  think  what  ft  might 
be. 

At  last  I  eame  tfgnt  down  upon  the  borders  of  the 
clearing,  The  western  end  was  already  steeped  in 
moonshine;  the  rest,  and  the  block-house  itself,  still 
lay  in  a  black  shadow,  checkered  with  long,  silyery 
streaks  of  light.    On  the  other  side  of  the  house  an 


182  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

immense  fire  bad  burned  itself  into  clear  embers, 

a  shed  steady,  red  reverberation,  contrasted  strongly 
with  the  mellow  paleness  of  the  moon.  There  was  no* 
a  soul  stirring,  nor  a  sound  beside  the  noises  of  the 
breeze. 

I  stopped,  with  much  wonder  in  my  heart,  and  per* 
haps  a  little  terror  also.  It  had  not  been  our  way  to 
build  great  fires;  we  were,  indeed,  by  the  captain's 
orders,  somewhat  niggardly  of  fire-wood;  and  I  began 
to  fear  that  something  had  gone  wrong  while  I  was 
absent. 

I  stole  round  by  the  eastern  end,  keeping  close  In 
shadow,  and  at  a  convenient  place,  where  the  darfcaess 
was  thickest,  crossed  the  palisade. 

To  make  assurance  surer,  I  got  upon  m^  ands  w&& 
knees,  and  crawled,  without  a  sound,  toward  the  cor- 
ner of  the  house.  As  I  drew  nearer,  my  heart  was 
suddenly  and  greatly  lightened.  It  was  not  a  pleasant 
noise  in  itself,  and  I  have  often  complained  of  St  at 
other*  times;  but  just  then  it  was  like  music  to  hear  my 
friends  snoring  together  so  loud  and  peaceful  in  their 
sleep.  The  sea-cry  of  the  watch,  that  beautiful  "All's 
well,"  never  fell  more  reassuringly  on  my  ear. 

In  the  meantime,  there  was  no  doubt  of  one  thing? 
they  kept  an  infamous  bad  watch.  If  it  bad  been  Sil* 
ver  and  his  lads  that  were  now  creeping  in  on  them, 
not  a  soul  would  have  seen  daybreak.  That  was  what 
it  was,  thought  I,  to  have  the  captain  wounded;  aai 
again  I  blamed  myself  sharply  for  leaving  them  !a 
that  danger  with  so  few  to  mount  guard. 

By  this  time  I  had  got  to  the  door  and  stood  up.  Alt 
was  dark  within,  so  that  I  could  distinguish  nothing 
by  the  eye.  As  for  sounds,  there  was  the  steady  dross 
of  the  snores,  and  a  small  occasional  noise,  a  flicfcer* 
ing  or  pecking  that  I  could  in  no  way  account  for. 

With  my  arms  before  m©  I  walked  steadUy  to.  £ 
should  lie  down  In  my  own  ptsee  (J  thought,  wKfe  $ 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  ^g| 

silent  chuckle)  and  enjoy,  their  faces  when  they  found 
me  in  the  morning.  My  foot  struck  something  yield- 
ing—it was  a  sleeper's  leg;  and  he  turned  and  groaned, 
but  without  awaking. 

And  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  a  shrill  voice  broke  forth 
out  of  the  darkness: 

"Pieces  of  eight!  pieces  ot  eight!  pieces  of  eight! 
pieces  of  eight!  pieces  of  eight!"  and  so  forth,  without 
pause  or  change,  like  the  clacking  of  a  tiny  mill. 

Silver's  green  parrot,  Captain  Flint!  It  was  she 
whom  I  bad  heard  pecking  at  a  piece  of  bark;  it  was 
she,  keeping  better  watch  than  any  human  being,  who 
thus  announced  my  arrival  with  her  wearisome  re- 
frain. 

I  had  no  time  left  me  to  recover.  At  the  sharp,  clip- 
ping tone  of  the  parrot,  the  sleepers  awoke  and  sprung 
up;  and  with  a  mighty  oath,  the  voice  of  Silver  cried: 

"Who  goes?" 

I  turned  to  run,  struck  violently  against  one  person, 
recoiled,  and  ran  full  into  the  arms  of  a  second,  who 
for  his  part,  closed  upon  and  held  me  tight. 

"Bring  a  torch,  Dick,"  said  Silver,  when  my  capture 
was  thus  assured. 

And  one  of  the  men  left  the  log-house,  and  presenter 
returned  with  a  lighted  brand. 


PftRTW. 
CAPTAIN  Slim 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

IN   THE    ENEMY'S    CAMP. 

The  red  glare  of  the  torch,  lighting  up  the  interior 
of  the  block-house,  showed  me  the  worst  of  my  appre- 
hensions realized.  The  pirates  were  in  possession  of 
the  house  and  stores;  there  was  a  cask  of  cognac,  there 
were  the  pork  and  bread,  as  before;  and,  what  tenfold 
increased  my  horror,  not  a  sign  ef  any  prisoner.  I 
could  only  judge  that  all  had  perished,  and  my  heart, 
smote  me  sorely  that  I  had  not  been  there  to  perish 
with  them. 

There  were  six  of  the  buccaneers,  all  told;  not  an- 
other man  was  left  alive.  Five  of  them  were  on  their 
feet,  flushed  and  swollen,  suddenly  called  out  of  the 
first  sleep  ef  drunkenness.  The  sixth  had  only  risen 
upon  his  elbow;  he  was  deadly  pale,  and  the  blood- 
stained bandage  round  his  head  told  that  he  had  re- 
cently been  wounded,  and  still  more  recently  dressed. 
I  remembered  the  man  who  had  been  shot  and  had 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  18S 

ran  back  among  the  woods  in  the  great  attack,  and 
doubted  not  tnat  this  was  he. 

The  parrot  sat,  preening  her  plumage,  on  Long 
John's  shoulder.  He  himself,  I  thought,  looked  some- 
what paler  and  more  stern  than  I  was  used  to.  He  still 
wore  his  fine  broadcloth  suit  in  which  he  hati  fulfilled 
his  mission,  but  it  was  bitterly  the  worse  for  wear, 
daubed  with  clay  -and  torn  wjth  the  sharp  briers  of  the 
wood. 

"So,"  said  he,  "here's  Jim  Hawkins,  shiver  my  tim- 
bers! dropped  in,  like,  eh?  Well,  come,  I  take  that 
friendly." 

And  thereupon  he  sat  down  across  the  brandy-cask, 
and  began  to  fill  a  pipe. 

"Give  me  the  loan  of  a  link,  Dick,"  said  he;  and 
then,  when  he  had  a  good  light,  "That'll  do,  lad,"  he 
added,  "stick  the  glim  in  the  wood  heap;  and  you,  gen- 
tlemen, bring  yourselves  to! — you  needn't  stand  up-for 
Mr.  Hawkins;  hell  excuse  you,  you  may  lay  to  that. 
And  so,  Jim" — stopping  the  tobacco — "here  you  are, 
and  quite  a  pleasant  surprise  for  poor  old  Jehn.  I  see 
you  were  smart  when  first  I  set  my  eyes  on  you;  but 
this  here  gets  away  from  me  clean,  it  do." 

To  all  this,  as  may  be  well  supposed,  I  made  no 
answer.  They  had  set  me  with  my  back  against  the 
wall,  and  I  stood  there,  looking  Silver  in  the  face, 
pluckily  enough,  I  hope,  to  all  outward  appearance, 
but  with  black  despair  in  my  heart. 

Silver  took  a  whiff  or  two  of  his  pipe  with  great 
composure,  and  then  ran  on  again. 

"Now,  you  see,  Jim,  so  be  as  you  are  here,"  says  he, 
"I'll  give  you  a  piece  of  my  mind.  I've  always  liked 
you,  I  have,  for  a  lad  of  spirit,  and  the  picter  of  my 
own  self  when  I  was  young  and  handsome.  I  always 
wanted  you  to  jine  and  take  your  share,  and  die  a  gen- 
tleman, and  new,  my  cock,  you've  got  to.  Cap'n  Smol- 
lett's a.  fine  seaman,  as  I'll  own  up  to  any  day,  but 


186  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

stiff  on  discipline.  'Booty  is  dooty/  says  he,  and  righ( 
he  is.  Just  you  keep  clear  of  the  cap'n.  The  doctor 
himself  Is  gone  dead  again  you— 'ungrateful  scamp' 
was  what  he  said;  and  the  short  and  the  long  of  the 
whole  story  is  about  here:  you  can't  go  back  to  your 
own  lot,  for  they  won't  have  you;  and,  without  you 
start  a  third  ship's  company  all  by  yourself,  which 
might  be  lonely,  you'll  have  to  jine  with  Cap'n  Sil- 
ver." 

So  far  so  good.  My  friends,  then,  were  still  alive, 
and  though  I  partly  believed  the  truth  of  Silver's  state- 
ment, that  the  cabin  party  were  incensed  at  me  for 
my  desertion,  I  was  more  relieved  than  distressed  by 
what  I  heard. 

"I  don't  say  nothing  as  to  your  being  in  our  hands," 
continued  Silver,  "though  there  you  are,  and  you  may 
lay  to  it.  I'm  all  for  argyment;  I  never  seen  good 
come  out  of  threatening.  If  you  like  the  service,  well, 
you'll  jine;  and  if  you  don't  Jim,  why,  you're  free  to 
answer  no — free  and  welcome,  shipmate;  and  if  fairer 
can  be  said  by  mortal  seaman,  shiver  my  sides!" 

"Am  I  to  answer,  then?"  I  asked,  with  a  very  trem- 
ulous voice.  Through  all  this  sneering  talk,  I  was 
made  to  feel  the  threat  of  death  that  overhung  me,  and 
my  cheeks  burned  and  my  heart  be^t.  gainfully  in  my 
breast. 

"Lad,"  said  Silver,  "no  one's  a-pressing  of  you.  Take 
your  bearings.  None  of  us  won't  hurry  you,  mate;  time 
goes  so  pleasant  in  your  company,  you  see." 

"Well,"  says  I,  growing  a  bit  bolder,  "if  I'm  to 
choose,  I  declare  I  have  a  right  to  know  what's  what, 
and  why  you're  here,  and  where  my  friends  are," 

"Wot's  wot?"  repeated  one  of  the  buccaneers,  in  a 
deep  growl.    "Ah,  he'd  be  a  lucky  one  as  knowed  that!" 

"You'll,  perhaps,  batten  down  your  hatches  till 
you're  spoke,  my  friend,"  cried  Silver,  truculently,  to 
this  speaker.     "Yesterday   morning,   Mr,   Hawkins, M 


TREASCJRE  ISLAND.  U? 

said  be,  "in  the  dog-watch,  down  came  Doctor  Livesey 
with  a  flag  of  truce,  Says  he,  'Cap'n  Silver,  you're  sold 
out.  Ship's  gone!  Well,  maybe  we'd  been  taking  a 
glass,  and  a  song  to  help  it  round.  I  won't  say  so. 
Leastways  none  of  us  had  looked  out.  We  looked  out, 
and,  by  thunder!  the  old  ship  was  gone.  I  never  seen 
a  pack  o'  fools  look  fishier;  and  you  may  lay  to  that, 
if  I  tells  you  that  I  looked  the  fishiest.  'Well,'  says  the 
doctor,  'let's  bargain.*  We  bargained,  him  and  I,  and 
here  we  are;  stores,  brandy,  block-house,  the  fire- wood 
you  was  thoughtful  enough  to  cut,  and,  in  a  manner 
of  speaking,  the  whole  blessed  boat,  from  cross-tree  to 
keelson.  As  for  them,  they've  tramped:  I  don't  know 
Where's  they  are." 

He  drew  again  quietly  at  his  pipe. 

"And  lestyou  should  take  it  into  that  head  of  yours,'* 
he  went  on,  "that  you  was  included  in  the  treaty, 
here's  the  last  word  that  was  said:  'How  many  are 
you,'  says  I,  'to  leave?'  'Pour,'  says  he — 'four  and  one 
one  of  us  -wounded.  As  for  that  boy,  I  don't  know 
where  he  is,  confound  him,'  says  he,  'nor  I  don't  much 
care.  We're  about  sick  of  him.'   These  was  his  words." 

"Is  that  all?"  I  asked. 

"Well,  it's  all  you're  to  hear,  my  son,"  returned  Sil» 
ver. 

"And  now  I  am  to  choose?" 

"And  now  you  are  to  choose,  and  you  may  lay  to 
that,"  said  Silver. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  am  not  such  a  fool  but  I  know 
pretty  well  what  I  have  to  look  for.  Let  the  worst 
come  to  the  worst,  it'siittle  I  care.  I've  seen  too  many 
die  since  I  fell  in  with  you.  But  there's  a  thing  or  two 
I  have  to  tell  you,"  I  said,  and  by  this  time  I  was  quite 
excited;  "and  the  first  is  this:  here  you  are,  in  a  bad 
way;  ship  lost,  treasure  lost,  men  lost;  your  whole  busi- 
ness go»e  to  wreck;  and  if  you  want  to  know  who  did 
It— it  war  I!   I  was  in  the  apple  barrel  the  night  we 


188  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

sighted  land,  and  I  heard  you,  John,  and  yon,  Dlw* 
Johnson,  and  Hands,  who  is  now  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  and  told  every  word  you  said  before  the  hour  was 
out  And  as  for  the  schooner,  it  was  I  who  cut  her 
cable,  and  it  was  I  who  killed  the  men  you  had  aboard, 
of  her,  and  it  was  I  who  brought  her  where  you'll 
never  see  her  more,  not  one  of  you.  The  laugh's  on 
my  side;  I've  had  the  top  of  this  business  from  the  first; 
I  no  more  fear  you  than  I  fear  a  fly.  Kill  me,  if  you 
please,  or  spare  me.  But  one  thing  I'll  say,  and  no 
more;  if  you  spare  me,  by-gones  are  by-gones,  and 
when  you  fellows  are  in  court  for  piracy,  I'll  save  you 
all  I  can.  It  is  for  you  to  choose.  Kill  another  and  do 
yourselves  no  good,  or  spare  me  and  keep  a  witness  to 
save  you  from  the  galiows." 

I  stopped,  for  I  tell  you,  I  was  out  of  breath,  and,  to 
my  wonder,  not  a  man  of  them  moved,  but  all  sat  star- 
ing at  me  like  as  many  sheep.  And  while  they  were 
still  staring  I  broke  out  again: 

"And  now,  Mr.  Silver,"  I  said,  "I  believe  you're  the 
best  man  here,  and  if  things  go  the  worst*  I'll  take 
it  kind  of  you  to  let  the  doctor  know  the  way  I  took  it." 

"FU  bear  it  in  mind,"  said  Silver,  with  an  accent  so 
curious  that  I  could  not,  for  the  life  of  me,  decide 
whether  he  were  laughing  at  my  requerst  or  had  been 
favorably  affected  by  my  courage. 

"I'll  put  one  to  that,"  cried  the  old  mahogany-faced 
seaman — Morgan  by  name — whom  I  had  seen  in  Long 
John's  public-house  upon  the  quays  of  Bristol.  "It 
was  him  that  kno wed  Black  Dog." 

"Well,  and  see  here,"  added  the  sea-cook.  I'll  put 
another  again  to  that,  by  thunder!  for  it  was  this  same 
boy  that  faked  the  chart  from  Billy  Bones.  First  and 
last  we've  split  upon  Jim  Hawkins  V' 

"Then  here  goes!"  said  Morgan,  with  an  oath. 

And  he  sprung  up,  drawing  his  knife  aft  t*  he  nafl 
been  twenty. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  18S 

"Ayasi,  there  r  cried  Silver.  "Who  are  you,  Tom 
Morgan?  Maybe  you  thought  you  were  captain  here, 
perhaps.  By  the  powers,  but  I'll  teach  you  better! 
Cross  me,  and  you'll  go  where  many  a  good  man's  gone 
before  you,  first  and  last,  these  thirty  year  back- 
some  to  the  yard-arm,  shiver  my  sides!  and  some  by 
the  board,  ami  all  to  feed  the  fishes.  There's  never  a 
man  looked  me  between  the  eyes  and  seen  a  good  day 
a'terward,  Tim  Morgan,  you  may  lay  to  that.'* 

Morgan  paused;  but  a  hoarse  murmur  rose  from  the 
others. 

"Tom's  right,"  said  one. 

"I  stood  hazing  long  enough  from  one,"  added  an- 
other. "I'll  be  hanged  if  I'll  be  hazed  by  you,  J^hn 
Silver." 

"Did  any  of  you  gentlemen  want  to  have  it  out  ^ith 
me?"  roared  Silver,  bending  far  forward  from  his  posi- 
tion on  the  keg,  with  his  pipe  still  glowing  in  his  right 
hand.  "Put  a  name  on  what  you're  at;  you  ain't 
dumb,  I  reckon.  Him  that  wants  shall  get  it.  Have  I 
lived  this  many  years,  and  a  son  of  a  rum  puncheon 
cock  his  hat  athwart  my  hawse  at  the  latter  end  of  it? 
You  know  the  way;  you're  all  gentlemen  o'  fortune,  by 
your  account.  Weil,  I'm  ready.  Take  a  cutlass  him 
that  dares,  and  ril  see  the  color  of  his  inside*  crutch 
and  all,  before  that  pipe's  empty." 

Not  a  man  stirred;  not  a  man  answered. 

"That's  your  sort,  is  it?"  he  added,  returning  his 
pipe  to  his  mouth.  "Well,  you're  a  gay  lot  to  look  at, 
anyway.  Not  much  worth  to  fight,  you  ain't.  P'r'aps 
you  can  understand  King  George's  English.  I'm  cap'a 
here  by  'lection.  I'm  cap'n  here  because  I'm  the  best 
man  by  a  long  sea-mile.  You  won't  fight,  as  gentle- 
men o  iortune  should;  then,  by  thunder,  you'll  obey, 
and  you  may  lay  to  it!  I  like  that  boy,  now;  I  never 
seen  a  better  boy  ta&a  that   He's  more  a  man  that 


19*  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

any  pair  of  rats  of  you  in  this  here  house,  and  what  1 
say  is  this:  let  me  see  him  as'll  lay  a  hand  on  him— 
that's  what  I  say,  and  you  may  lay  to  it/' 

There  was  a  long  pause  after  this.  I  stood  straight 
up  against  the  wall,  my  heart  still  going  like  a  sledge* 
hammer,  but  with  a  ray  of  hope  now  shining  in  my 
bosom.  Silver  leaned  back  against  the  wall,  hte  arms 
crossed,  his  pipe  in  the  corner  of  his  mouth,  as  calm  as 
though  he  had  been  in  church;  yet  his  eye  kept  wan- 
dering furtively,  and  he  kept  the  tail  of  it  on  his  un- 
ruly followers.  They,  on  their  part,  drew  gradually 
together  toward  the  far  end  of  the  block-house,  and  the 
5ow  hiss  of  their  whispering  sounded  in  my  ears  con- 
tinuously, like  a  stream.  One  after  another  they  would 
look  up,  and  the  red  light  of  the  torch  would  fell  for 
a  second  on  their  nervous  faces;  but  it  was  not  toward 
me,  it  was  toward  Silver  that  they  turned  their  eyes. 

"You  seem  to  have  a  lot  to  say,"  remarked  Silver, 
spitting  far  into  the  air.  "Pipe  up  and  let  me  hear  it, 
or  lay  to." 

"Ax  your  pardon,  sir,"  returned  one  of  the  men, 
"you're  pretty  free  with  some  of  the  rules;  maybe 
you'll  kindly  keep  an  eye  upon  the  rest.  This  orew's 
dissatisfied;  this  crew  don't  vally  bullying  a  mariin- 
spike;  this  crew  has  its  rights  like  other  crews,  I'll 
make  so  free  as  that;  and  by  your  own  rules,  I  take  it 
we  can  talk  together.  I  ax  your  pardon,  sir,  acknowl- 
edging you  for  to  be  capting  at  this  present^  but  I 
claim  my  right,  and  steps  outside  for  a  council." 

And  with  an  elaborate  sea-salute,  this  fellow,  a  long, 
ill-looking  yellow-eyed  man  of  five-and-thirty,  stepped 
coolly  toward  the  door  and  disappeared  out  of  the 
house.  One  after  another  the  rest  followed  his  exam- 
ple; each  making  a  salute  as  he  passed;  each  adding 
some  apology.  "According  to  rules,"  said  one. 
"Fo'k's'le  cotmeil,"  said  Morgan.   And  so  with  one  re* 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  Itl 

mark  or  another  all  marched  out,  and  left  Silver  and 
me  alone  with  the  torch. 

The  sea-cook  instantly  removed  his  pipe. 

"Now,  look  you  here,  Jim  Hawkins,"  he  said,  in  a 
steady  whisper,  that  was  no  more  than  audible,  "you're 
within  half  a  plank  of  death,  and,  what's  a  long  sight 
worse,  of  torture.  They're  going  to  throw  me  Off.  But, 
you  mark,  I  stand  by  you  through  thick  and  thin.  I 
didn't  mean  to;  no,  not  till  you  spoke  up.  I  was  about 
desperate  to  lose  that  much  blunt,  and  be  hanged  into 
the  bargain.  But  I  see  you  was  the  right  sort.  I  says 
to  myself.  You  stand  by  Hawkins,  John,  and  Haw- 
kins'll  stand  by  you.  You're  his  last  card,  and  by  the 
living  thunder,  John,  he's  yours!  Back  to  back,  says 
I.    You  save  your  witness,  and  he'll  save  your  &©ck!f| 

I  began  to  dimly  to  understand. 

"You  mean  all  is  lost?"  I  asked. 

"Ay,  by  gum,  I  do!"  he  answered.  "Ship  gone,  neck 
gone— that's  the  size  of  it.  Once  I  looked  into  that  bay, 
Jim  Hawkins,  and  seen  no  schooner — well,  I'm  tough, 
but  gave  out.  As  for  that  lot  and  their  council,  mark 
me,  they're  outright  fools  and  cowards.  I'll  save  your 
life — if  so  be  as  I  can— from  them.  But,  see  here,  Jim 
—tit  for  tat— you  save  Long  John  from  swinging." 

I  was  bewildered;  it  seemed  a  thing  so  hopeless  he 
was  asking — he,  the  old  buccaneer,  the  ringleader 
throughout. 

"What  I  can  do,  that  I'll  do,"  I  said. 

"It's  a  bargain!"  cried  Long  John.  "You  speak  U9 
^luckily,  and,  by  thunder!  I've  a  chance." 

He  hobbled  to  the  torch,  where  it  stood  propped 
among  the  firewood,  and  took  a  fresh  light  to  his  pipe. 

"Understand  me,  Jim,"  he  said,  returning,  "I've  a 
head  on  my  shoulders,  I  have.  I'm  on  squire's  side, 
now.  I  know  you've  got  that  ship  safe  somewheres. 
How  you  done  it,  I  don't  know,  but  safe  it  is.  I  guess 
Hands  and  O'Brien  turned  soft.   I  never  much  believed 


JtJ2  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

in  neither  of  them.  Now  you  mark  me.  I  ask  ae 
questions,  nor  I  won't  let  others.  I  know  when  a 
game's  up,  I  do;  and  I  know  a  lad  that's  stanch*  Ah, 
but  that's  young— you  and  me  might  have  done  a 
power  of  good  together!"  > 

He  drew  some  cognac  from  the  cask  into  a  tin  can- 
ikin. 

"Will  you  taste,  messmate?"  he  asked;  and  when  I 
had  refused;  "Well,  I'll  take  a  drain  myself,  Jim,"  said 
he.  "I  need  a  caulker,  for  there's  trouble  on  hand. 
And,  talking  o'  trouble,  why  did  that  doctor  give  me 
the  chart,  Jim?" 

My  face  expressed  a  wonder  so  unaffected  that  he 
saw  the  needlessness  of  further  questions* 

"Ah,  well,  he  did,  though,"  said  he.  "And  there's 
something  .under  that,  no  doubt — something,  surely, 
under  that,  Jim — bad  or  good." 

And  he  took  another  swallow  of  the  brandy,  shaking 
his  great  iair  head  like  a  man  who  looks  forward  to 
£be  worst, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  183 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  BLACK  SPOT  AGAIN. 

The  council  of  the  buccaneers  had  lasted  some  time* 
when  one  of  them  re-entered  the  house,  and  with  a 
repetition  of  the  same  salute,  which  had  in  my  eyes 
an  ironical  air,  begged  for  a  moment's  loan  of  the  torch. 
Silver  briefly  agreed;  and  this  emissary  retired  again, 
leaving  us  together  in  the  dark. 

"There's  a  breeze  coming,  Jim,"  said  Silver,  who 
had,  by  this  time,  adopted  quite  a  friendly  and  familiar 
tone. 

I  turned  to  the  loop-hole  nearest  me  and  looked  out. 
The  embers  of  the  great  fire  had  so  far  burned  them- 
selves out,  and  now  glowed  so  low  and  dusky,  that  I 
understood  why  these  conspirators  desired  a  torch. 
About  half-way  down  the  slope  to  the  stockade  they 
were  collected  in  a  group;  one  held  the  light;  another 
was  on  his  knees  in  their  midst,  and  I  saw  the  blade 
of  an  open  knife  shine  in  his  hand  with  varying  col- 
ors, in.  the  moon  and  torchlight.  The  rest  were  all 
somewhat  stooping,  as  though  watching  the  maneu- 
vers of  this  last.  I  could  just  make  out  that  he  had 
a  book  as  well  as  a  knife  in  his  hand;  and  was  still 
wondering  how  anything  so  incongruous  had  come  in 
their  possession,  when  the  kneeling  figure  rose  once 


194  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

more  to  his  feet,  and  the  whole  party  began  to  move 
together  toward  the  house. 

"Here  they  come,"  said  I;  and  I  returned  to  my 
former  position,  for  it  seemed  beneath  my  dignity  that 
they  should  find  me  watching  them.  ; 

"Well,  let  'em  come,  lad — let  'em  come,"  said  Silver, 
cheerily.    "I've  still  a  shot  in  my  locker." 

The  door  opened,  and  the  five  men,  standing  huddled 
together  just  inside,  pushed  one  of  their  number  for- 
ward. In  any  other  circumstances  it  would  have  been 
comical  to  see  his  slow  advances,  hesitating  as  he  set 
down  each  foot,  but  holding  his  closed  right  hand  in 
front  of  him. 

"Step  up,  lad,"  cried  Silve/.  "I  won't  eat  you.  Hand 
it  over,  lubber.  I  know  the  rules,  I  do;  I  won't  hurt  a 
depytation." 

Thus  encouraged  the  buccaneer  steped  forth  more 
briskly,  and  having  passed  something  to  Silver,  from 
hand  to  hand,  slipped  yet  more  smartly  back  again 
to  his  companions. 

The  sea-cook  looked  at  what  had  been  given  him. 

"The  blaek  spot!  I  thought  so,"  he  observed. 
"Where  might  you  have  got  the  paper?  Why,  hillo! 
look  here,  now;  this  ain't  lucky!  You've  gone  and  cut 
this  out  of  a  Bible.    What  fool's  cut  a  Bible?" 

"Ah,  there!"  said  Morgan — "there.  Wot  did  I  say? 
No  goocTlI  come  o'  that,  I  said." 

"Well,  you've  about  fixed  it  now,  among  you,"  con- 
tinued Silver.  "You'll  all  swing  now,  I  reckon.  Wkat 
soft-headed  lubber  had  a  Bible?" 

"It  was  Dick,"  said  one, 

"Dick,  was  it?  Then  Dick  can  get  to  prayers,"  said 
Silver.  "He's  seen  his  slice  of  luck,  has  Dick,  and  you 
may  lay  to  that" 

But  here  the  long  man  with  the  yellow  eyes  struck 
2d. 

"Belay  that  talk,  John  Silver,"  he  said.    "This  crew 


TREASURE  ISLAND,  195 

lias  tipped  you  the  black  spot  in  full  council,  as  in 
dooty  bound;  just  you  turn  it  over,  as  in  dooty  bound,, 
and  see  what's  wrote  there.   Then  you  can  talk." 

"Tnanky,  George,"  replied  the  sea-cook.  "You  al< 
ways  was  brisk  for  business,  and  has  the  rules  by 
heart,  George,  as  I'm  pleased  to  see.  Well,  what  is  it, 
anyway?  Ah! 'Deposed' — that's  it,  is  it?  Very  pretty 
wrote,  to  be  sure,  like  print,  I  swear.  Your,hand  o' 
write,  George?  Why,  you  was  gettin'  Quite  a  leadin' 
man  in  this  here  crew.  You'll  be  cap'n  next,  I 
shouldn't-  wonder.  Just  oblige  me  with  that  torch 
again,  will  you?  this  pipe  don't  draw." 

"Come,  now,"  said  George,  "you  don't  fool  this  crew 
no  more.  You're  a  funny  man,  by  your  account;  but 
you're  over  now,  and  you'll  maybe  step  down  off  that 
barrel,  and  help  vote." 

"I  thought  you  said  you  knowed  the  rules,"  re- 
turned Silver,  contemptuously.  "Leastways,  if  you 
don't,  I  do;  and  I  wait  here— and  I'm  still  your  cap'n, 
mind — till  you  outs  with  your  grievances,  and  I  reply; 
in  the  meantime,  your  black  spot  ain't  worth  a  biscuit. 
After  that  we'll  see." 

"Oh,"  replied  George,  "you  don't  be  under  no  kind 
of  apprehension;  we're  all  square*  we  are.  First, 
you've  made  a  hash  of  this  cruise — you'll  foe  a  bold 
man  to  say  no  to  that.  Second,  you  let  the  enemy  out 
o'  this  here  trap  for  nothing.  Why  did  they  want  out! 
I  dunno;  but  it's  pretty  plain  they  wanted  it.  Third, 
you  wouldn't  let  us  go  at  them  upon  the  march.  Oh, 
we  see  through  you,  John  Silver;  you  want  to  play 
booty,  that's  what's  wrong  with  you.  And  then, 
fourth,  there's  this  here  boy." 

"Is  that  all?"  asked  Silver,  quietly.' 

"Enough,  too,"  retorted  George.  "We'll  all  swing 
and  sun-dry  for  your  bungling." 

"Well,  now,  look  here,  I'll  answer  these  four  p'ints; 
one  after  another  I'll  answer  'em.    I  made  a  hash  o* 


1%  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

this  cruise,  did  I?  Well,  now,  you  all  know  what  I 
wanted;  and  you  all  know,  if  that  had  been  done.,  that 
we'd  'a'  been  aboard  the  'Hispaniola'  this  night  as  ever 
was,  every  man  of  us  alive,  and  fit,  and  full  of  good 
plum-duff,  and  the  treasure  in  the  hold  of  her,  by  thun- 
der! VvTell,  who  crossed  me?  Who  forced  my  hand,  as 
was  the  lawful  cap'n?  iVho  tipped  me  the  black  spot 
the  day  we  landed,  and  began  this  dance?  Ah,  it's  a 
fine  dance — I'm  with  you  there — and  looks  mighty  like 
a  hornpipe  in  a  rope's  end  at  Execution  Dock  by  Lon- 
don town,  it  does.  But  who  done  it?  Why,  it  was 
Anderson  and  Hands  and  you,  George  Merry!  And 
you're  the  last  above-board  of  that  same  meddling 
crew;  and  you  have  the  Davy  Jones'  insolence  to  up 
and  stand  for  cap'n  over  me— you,  that  sunk  the  lot 
of  us!  By  the  powers!  but  this  tops  the  stiff  est  yarn 
to  nothing." 

Silver  paused,  and  I  could  see  by  the  faces  of  George 
and  his  late  comrades  that  these  words  had  not  been 
said  in  vain. 

"That's  for  number  one,"  cried  the  aceused,  wiping 
the  sweat  from  his  brow,  for  he  had  been  talking  with 
a  vehemence  that  shook  the  house.  "Why,  I  give  you 
my  word,  I'm  sick  to  speak  to  you.  You've  neither 
sense  nor  memory,  and  I  leave  it  to  fancy  where  your 
mothers  was  that  let  you  come  to  sea.  Sea!  Gentle- 
men o'  fortune!    I  reckon  tailors  is  your  trade." 

"Go  on,  John,"  said  Morgan.  "Speak  up  to  the 
others." 

"Ah,  the  others!"  returned  John.  "They're  a  nice 
lot,  ain't  they?  You  say  this  cruise  is  bungled.  Ah! 
by  gum,  if  you  could  understand  how  bad  it's  bungled, 
you  would  see!  We're  that  near  the  gibbet  that  my 
neck's  stiff  with  thinking  on  it.  You've  seen  'em,  may- 
be, hanged  in  chains,  birds  about  'em,  seamen  p'inting 
'em  out  as  they  go  down  with  the  tide.  'Who's  that?' 
says  one.    'That!    Why,  that's  John  Silver.    I  knowed 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  197 

him  well,'  says  another.'  And  you  can  hear  the  chains 
a-jangle  as  you  go  about  and  reach  for  the  other  buoy. 
Now,  that's  about  where  we  are,  every  mother's  son 
of  us,  thanks  to  him,  and  Hands,  and  Anderson,  and 
other  ruination  fools  of  you.  And  if  you  want  to  know 
about  number  four,  and  that  boy,  why,  shiver  my  tim- 
bers! isn't  he  a  hostage?  Are  we  going  to  waste  a 
hostage?  No,  not  us;  he  might  be  our  last  chance, 
and  I  shouldn't  wonder.  Kill  that  boy?  not  me,  mates! 
And  number  three?  Ah,  well,  there's  a  deal  to  say  to 
number  three.  Maybe  you  don't  count  it  nothing  to 
have  a  real  college  doctor  come  to  see  you  every  day — 
you,  John,  with  your  head  broke — or  you,  George  Mer- 
ry, that  had  the  ague  shakes  upon  you  not  six  hours 
agone,  and  has  your  eyes  the  eolor  of  lemon  peel  to  this 
same  moment  on. the  clock?  And  maybe,  perhaps,  you 
didn't  know  there  was  a  consort  coming,  either?  But 
there  is,  and  not  so  long  till  then;  and  we'll  see  who'll 
be  glad  to  have  a  hostage  when  it  comes  to  that.  And 
as  for  number  two,  and  why  I  made  a  bargain — well, 
you  came  crawling  on  your  knees  to  me  to  make  it — 
on  your  knees  you  came,  you  was  that  down-hearted— 
and  you'd  have  starved,  too,  if  I  hadn't — but  that's  a 
trifle!  you  look  there — that's  why!" 

And  he  cast  down  upon  the  floor  a  paper  that  I  in- 
stantly recognized — none  other  than  the  chart  on  yel- 
low paper,  with  the  three  red  crosses,  tnat  I  had  found 
in  the  oilcloth  at  the  bottom  of  the  captain's  chest. 
Why  the  doctor  had  given  it  to  him  was  more  than  I 
could  fancy. 

But  if  it  were  inexplicable  to  me  the  appearance  of 
the  chart  was  incredible  to  the  surviving  mutineers. 
They  leaped  upon  it  like  cats  upon  a  mouse.  It  went 
from  hand  toNhand,  one  tearing  it  from  another;  and 
by  the  oaths  and  the  cries  and  the  childish  laughter 
with  which  they  accompanied  their  examination,  you 
would  have  thought,  not  only  they  were  fingering  the 


19b  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

frery  goia,  but  were  at  sea  with  it,  besides,  in  safety. 

"Yes,"  said  one,  "that's  Flint,  sure  enough.  J.  P., 
and  a  score  below,  with  a  clove  hitch  to  it,  so  he  done 
ever." 

"Mighty  pretty,"  said  George.  "But  how  are  we  to 
get  away  with  it,  and  us  no  ship?" 

Silver  suddenly  sprung  up,  and  supporting  himself 
with  a  hand  against  the  wall:  .  "Now,  I  give  you  warn- 
ing, George,"  he  cried.  "One  more  word  of  your  sauce, 
and  I'll  call  you  down  and  fight  you.  How?  Why, 
how  do  I  know?  You  had  ought  to  tell  me  that— you 
and  the  rest,  that  lost  me  my  schooner,  with  your 
interference,  burn  you!  But  not  you,  you  can't;  you 
hain't  got  the  invention  of  a  cockroach.  But  civil  you 
can  speak,  and  shall,  George  Merry,  you  may  lay  to 
that." 

"That's  fair  enow,"  said  the  old  man  Morgan. 

"Fair!  I  reckon  so,"  said  the  sea-cook.  "You  lost  the 
ship;  I  found  the  treasure.  Who's  the  better  man  at 
that?  And  now  I  resign,  by  thunder!  Elect  whom 
you  please  to  be  your  cap'n  now;  I'm  done  with  it." 

"Silver!"  they  cried.  "Barbecue  forever!  Barbecue 
for  cap'n!" 

"So  that's  the  toon,  is  it?"  cried  the  cook.  "George, 
I  reckon  you'll  have  to  wait  another  turn,  friend,  and 
lucky  for  you  as  I'm  not  a  revengeful  man.  But  that 
was  never  my  way.  And  now,  shipmates,  this  black 
spot?  Taia't  much  good  now,  is  it?  Dick's  crossed 
his  luck  and  spoiled  his  Bible,  and  that's  about  all." 

"It'll  do  to  kiss  the  book  on  still,  won't  it?"  growled 
Dick,  who  was  evidently  uneasy  at  the  curse  he  had 
brought  upon  himself. 

"A  Bibie  with  a  bit  cut  out!"  returned  Silver,  deri- 
sively. "Not  it.  It  don't  bind  no  more'n  a  ballad- 
book." 

"Don't  it,  though?"  cried  Dick,  with  a  sort  of  joy. 
"Well,  I  reckon  that's  worth  having,  too." 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  198 

;,Mefe,  Jim — here's  a  cur'osity  for  you/'  said  Silver; 
and  he  tossed  me  the  paper. 

It  was  a  round  about  the  size  of  a  crown-piece.  One 
sidse  was  blank,  for  it  had  been  the  last  leaf;  the  other 
contained  a  verse  or  two  of  Revelation — these  words 
among  the  rest,  which  struck  sharply  home  «pon  my 
mind:  "Without  are  dogs  and  murderers/'  The 
printed  side  had  been  blackened  with  wood-ash,  which 
already  began  to  come  off  and  soil  my  fingers;  on  the 
blank  side  had  been  written  with  the  same  material 
the  one  word,  "Deposed."  I  have  that  curiosity  beside 
me  at  this  moment;  but  not  a  trace  of  writing  now 
remains  beyond  a  single  scratch,  such  as  a  maa  might 
make  with  his  thumb-nail. 

That  was  the  end  of  the  night's  business.  Soon  after, 
with  a  drink  all  round,  we  lay  down  to  sleep,  and  the 
outside  of  Silver's  vengeance  was  to  put  George  Merry 
up  for  sentinel,  and  threaten  him  with  death  if  he 
should  prove  unfaithful. 

It  was  Jong  ere  I  could  close  an  eye,  and  Heaven 
knows  I  had  matter  enough  for  thought  in  the  man 
whom  I  had  slain  that  afternoon,  in  my  own  most  per- 
ilous position,  and,  above  all,  in  the  remarkable  game 
that  I  saw  Silver  now  engaged  upon — keeping  the  mu- 
tineers together  with  one  hand,  and  grasping,  with  the 
other,  after  every  means,  possible  and  impossible,  to 
make  his  peace  and  save  his  miserable  life.  He  him- 
self slept  peacefully,  and  snored  aloud;  yet  my  heart 
was  sore  for  him,  wicked  as  he  was,  to  think  on  the 
dark  perils  that  environed,  and  the  shameful  gibbet 
that  awaited  him. 


«00  TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

ON    PAROLE. 

I  was  wakened — indeed,  we.  were  all  wakened,  for  I 
could  see  even  the  sentinel  shake  himself  together 
from  where  he  had  fallen  against  the  door-post  hy  a 
clear,  hearty  voice  hailing  us  from  the  margin  of  the 
wood : 

"Block-house,  ahoy!"  it  cried.    "Here's  the  doctor." 

And  the  doctor  it  was.  Although  I  was  glad  to  hear 
the  sound,  yet  my  gladness  was  not  without  admix- 
ture. I  remembered  with  confusion  my  insubordinate 
and  stealthy  conduct;  and  when  I  saw  where  it  had 
brought  me — among  what  companions  and  surrounded 
by  what  dangers — I  felt  ashamed  to  look  him  in  the 
face. 

He  must  have  risen  in  the  dark,  for  the  day  had 
hardly  come;  and  when  I  ran  to  a  loop-hole  and  looked 
out,  I  saw  him  standing,  like  Silver  once  before,  up  to 
the  mid-leg  in  creeping  vapor. 

"You,  doctor!  Top  o'  the  morning  to  you,  sir!"  cried 
Silver,  broad  awake  and  beaming  with  good-nature  in 
a  moment.  "Bright  and  early,  to  be  sure;  and  it's  the 
early  bird,  as  the  saying  goes,  that  gets  the  rations. 
George,  shake  up  your- timbers,  son,  and  help  Doctor 
Livesey  over  the  ship's  side.  All  a-doin'  well,  your 
patients  was— all  well  and  merry." 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  201 

So  he  pattered  on,  standing  on  the  hill-top,  with  his 
crutch  under  his  elbow,  and  one  hand  upon  the  side 
of  the  log-house — quite  the  old  John  in  voice,  man- 
ner, and  expression. 

"We've  quite  a  surprise  for  you,  too,  sir,"  he  con- 
tinued. "We've  a  little  stranger  here — he!  he!  A  noo 
boarder  and  lodger,  sir,  and  looking  fit  and  taut  as  a 
fiddle;  slep'  like  a  supercargo,  he  did,  right  alongside 
of  John — stem  to  stem  we  was,  all  night." 

Dr.  Livesey  was  by  this  time  across  the  stockade  and 
pretty  near  the  cook;  and  I  could  hear  the  alteration 
in  his  voice  as  he  said* 

"Not  Jim?" 

"The  very  same  Jim  as  ever  was,"  says  Silver. 

The  doctor  stopped  outright,  although  he  did  not 
speak,  and  it  was  some  seconds  before  he  seemed  able 
to  move  on. 

"Well,  well,"  he  said  at  last,  "duty  first  and  pleasure 
afterward,  as  you  might  have  said  yourself,  Silver. 
Let  us  overhaul  these  patients  of  yours." 

A  moment  afterward  he  had  entered  the  block- 
house, and,  with  one  grim  nod  to  me,  proceeded  with 
his  work  among  the  sick.  He  seemed  to  me  under  no 
apprehension,  though  he  must  have  known  that  his 
life,  among  these  treacherous  demons,  depended  on  a 
hair;  and  he  rattled  on  to  his  patients  as  if  he  were 
paying  an  ordinary  professional  visit  in  a  quiet  Eng- 
lish family.  His  manner,  I  suppose,  reacted  on  the 
men;  for  they  behaved  to  him  as  if  nothing  had  oc- 
curred— as  if  he  were  still  ship's  doctor,  and  they  still 
faithful  hands  before  the  mast. 

"You're  doing  well,  my  friend,"  he  said  to  the  fel- 
low with  the  bandaged  head,  "and  if  ever  any  person 
had  a  close  shave,  it  was  you;  your  head  must  be  as 
hard  as  iron.  Well,  George,  how  goes  it?  You're  a 
pretty  color,  certainly;  why,  your  liver,  man,  is  up- 


m  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

side  down.  Did  you  take  that  medicine?  Did  he  take 
tnat  medicine,  men?" 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,  he  took  it,  sure  enough,"  returned 
Morgan. 

"Because,  you  see,  since  I  am  mutineers'  doctor,  or 
prison  doctor,  as  I  prefer  to  call  it,"  said  Dr.  Livesey, 
in  his  pleasantest  way,  "I  make  it  a  point  of  honor  not 
to  lose  a  man  for  King  George  (God  bless  him!)  and 
the  gallows." 

The  rogues  looked  at  each  other,  but  swallowed  the 
home-thrust  in  silence. 

"Dick  don't  feel  well,  sir,"  said  one. 

"Don't  he?"  replied  the  doctor.  "Well,  step  up  here, 
Dick,  and  let  me  see  your  tongue.  No,  I  should  be  sur- 
prised if  he  did;  the  man's  tongue  is  fit  to  frighten  the 
French.   Another  fever." 

"Ah,  there,"  said  Morgan,  "that  corned  of  sp'iling 
Bibles." 

"That  corned — as  you  call  it — of  being  arrant  asses," 
retorted  the  doctor,  "and  not  having  sense  enough  to 
know  honest  air  from  poison,  and  the  dry  land  from 
a  vile,  pestiferous  slough.  I  think  it  most  probable — 
though,  of  course,  it's  only  an  opinion — that  you'll  all 
have  the  deuce  to  pay  before  you  get  that  malaria  out 
of  your  systems.  Camp  in  a  bog,  would  you?  Silver, 
I'm  surprised  at  you.  You're  less  of  a  fool  than  many, 
take  you  all  round;  but  you  don't  appear  to  me  to  have 
the  rudiments  of  a  notion  of  the  rules  of  health.  Well," 
lie  added,  after  he  had  dosed  them  round,  and  they  had 
taken  his  prescriptions,  with  really  laughable,  humil- 
ity, more  like  charity  school-children  than  blood-guil- 
ty mutineers  and  pirates — "well,  that's  done  for  to- 
day. And  now  I  should  wish  to  have  a  talk  with  that 
boy,  please." 

And  he  nodded  his  head  in  my  direction  carelessly. 

George  Merry  was  at  the  door,  spitting  and  splutter- 
ing over  some  bad- tasted  medicine;  but  at  the  first 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  2*3 

word  of  the  doctor's  proposal  he  swung  round  with  a 
#eep  flush,  and  cried,  "No!"  and  swore. 

Silver  struck  the  barrel  with  his  open  hand. 

"Si-lence!"  he  roared,  and  looked  about  him  posi- 
tively like  a  lion.  "Doctor,"  he  went  on,  in  his  usual 
tones,  "I  was  a-thinking  of  that,  knowing  as  how  you 
had  a  fancy  for  the  boy.  We're  all  humbly  grateful 
for  your  kindness,  and,  as  you  see,  puts  faith  in  you, 
And  takes  the  drugs  down  like  that  much  grog.  And 
I  take  it  I've  found  a  way  as'll  suit  all.  Hawkins,  win 
you  give  me  your  word  of  honor  as  a  young  gentleman 
— for  a  young  gentleman  you  are,  although  poor  born 
--your  word  of  honor  not  to  slip  your  cable?" 

I  readily  gave  the  pledge  required. 

"Then,  doctor,"  said  Silver,  "you  just  step  outside 
o'  that  stockade,  and  once  you're  there,  I'll  bring  the 
boy  down  on  the  inside,  and  I  reckon  you  can  yarn 
through  the  spars.  Good-day  to  you,  sir,  and  all  our 
dooties  to  the  squire  and  Cap'n  Smollett." 

The  explosion  of  disapproval,  which  nothing  but  Sil- 
ver's black  looks  had  restrained,  broke  out  immedi- 
ately the  doctor  had  left  the  house.  Silver  was  roundly 
accused  of  playing  double — of  trying  to  make  a  sepa- 
rate peace  for  himself — of  sacrificing  the  interests  of 
his  accomplices  and  -victims;  and,  in  one  word,  of  the 
identical,  exact  thing  that  he  was  doing.  It  seemed 
to  me  so  obvious,  in  this  case,  that  I  could  not  imagine 
how  he  was  to  turn  their  anger.  But  he  was  twice 
the  man  the  rest  were;  and  his  last  night's  victory 
had  given  him  a  huge  preponderance  on  their  minds. 
He  called  them  all  the  fools  and  dolts  you  can  imag- 
ine, said  it  was  necessary  I  should  talk  to  the  doctor, 
fluttered  the  chart  in  their  faces,  asked  them  if  they 
could  afford  to  break  the  treaty  the  very  day  they 
were  bound  a-treasure-hunting. 

"No,  by  thunder!"  he  cried,  "it's  us  must  break  the 
treaty  when  the  time  comes;  and  till  then  I'll  gam- 


204  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

mon  that  doctor,  if  I  have  to    ile    his    boots    with 
brandy." 

And  then  he  hade  them  get  the  fire  lighted,  and 
stalked  out  upon  his  crutch,  with  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder,  leaving  them  in  a  disarray,  and  silenced  by 
his  volubility  rather  than  convinced. 

"Slow,  lad,  slow,"  he  said.  "They  might  round  upon 
us  in  a  twinkle  of  an  eye,  if  we  was  seen  to  hurry." 

Very  deliberately,  then,  did  we  advance  across  the 
sand  to  where  the  doctor  waited  us  on  the  other  side 
of  the  stockade,  and  as  soon  as  we  were  within  easy 
speaking  distance,  Silver  stopped. 

"You'll  make  a  note  of  this  here  also,  doctor,"  says 
he,  "and  the  boy'll  tell  you  how  I  saved  his  life,  and 
were  deposed  for  it,  too,  and  you  may  lay  to  that. 
Doctor,  when  a  man's  steering  as  near  the  wind  as 
me — playing  chuck-farthing  with  the  last  breath  in 
his  body,  like — you  wouldn't  think  it  too  much,  may- 
mind  it's  not  my  life  only  now — it's  that  boy  into  the 
bargain;  and  you'll  speak  me  fair,  doctor,  and  give  me 
a  bit  o'  hope  to  go  on,  for  the  sake  of  mercy." 
hap,  to  give  him  one  good  word!    You'll  please  bear  in 

Silver  was  a  changed  man,  once  he  was  out  there 
and  had  his  back  to  his  friends  and  the  block-house; 
his  cheeks  seemed  to  have  fallen  in,  his  voice  trem- 
bled; never  was  a  soul  more  dead  in  earnest. 

"Why,  John,  you're  not  afraid?"  asked  Dr.  Livesey. 

"Doctor,  I'm  no  coward;  no,  not  I — not  so  much!" 
and  he  snapped  his  fingers.  "If  I  was  I  wouldn't  say 
it.  But  I'll  own  up  fairly  I've  the  shakes  upon  me  for 
the  ga41ows.  You're  a  good  man  and  a  true;  I  never 
seen  a  better  man!  And  you'll  not  forget  what  I  done 
good,  not  any  more  than  you'll  forget  the  bad,  I  know. 
And  I  step  asides — eee  here — and  leave  you  and  Jim 
alone.  And  you'll  put  that  down  for  me  too,  for  it's 
a  long  stretch,  is  that!" 

So  saying,  he  stepped  back  a  little  way  till  he  was 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  205 

out  of  ear-shot,  and  there  sat  down  upon  a  tree-stump 
and  began  to  whistle;  spinning  round  now  and  again 
upon  his  seat  so  as  to  command  a  sight  sometimes  of 
me  and  the  doctor,  and  sometimes  of  his  unruly  ruffi- 
ans as  they  went  to  and  fro  in  the  sand,  between  the 
fire — which  they  were  busy  rekindling — and  the  house, 
from  which  they  brought  forth  pork  and  bread  to  make 
the  breakfast. 

"So,  Jim,"  said  the  doctor,  sadly,  "here  you  are.  As 
you  have  brewed,  so  shall  you  drink,  my  boy.  Heaven 
knows,  I  cannot  find  it  in  my  heart  to  blame  you;  but 
this  much  I  will  say,  be  it  kind  or  unkind:  when  Cap- 
tain Smollett  was  well,  you  dared  not  have  gone  off: 
and  when  he  was  ill,  and  couldn't  help  it,  by  George, 
it  was  downright  cowardly!" 

I  will  own  that  I  here  began  to  weep.  'Doctor,"  I 
said,  "you  might  spare  me.  I  have  blamed  myself 
enough;  my  life's  forfeit  anyway,  and  I  should  have 
been  dead  now,  if  Silver  had'nt  stood  for  me;  and, 
doctor,  believe  this,  I  can  die — and  I  dare  say  I  deserve 
it — but  what  I  fear  is  torture.  If  they  come  to  torture 
me — " 

"Jim,"  the  doctor  interrupted,  and  his  voice  was 
quite  changed,  "Jim,  I  can't  have  this.  Whip  over, 
and  we'll  run  for  it." 

"Doctor,"  said  I,  "I  passed  my  word." 

"I  know,  I  know,"  he  cried.  "We  can't  help  that, 
Jim,  now.  I'll  take  it  on  my  shoulders,  holus  bolus, 
blame  and  shame,  my  boy;  but  stay  here,  I  cannot  let 
you.  Jump!  One  jump,  and  you're  out,  and  we'll  run 
for  it  like  antelopes.' 

"No,"  I  replied,  "you  know  right  well  you  wouldn't 
do  the  thing  yourself;  neither  you,  nor  squire,  nor  cap- 
tain; and  no  more  will  I.  Silver  trusted  me;  I  passed 
my  word,  and  back  I  go.  But,  doctor,  you  did  not  let 
me  finish.  If  they  come  to  torture  me,  I  might  let  slip 
a  word  of  where  the  ship  is;  for  I  got  the  ship,  part  by 


»6  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

luck  and  part  by  risking,  and  she  lies  in  North  Inlet, 
on  the  southern  beach,  and  just  below  high  water.  At 
half-tide  she  must  be  high  and  dry." 

"The  ship!"  exclaimed  the  docter. 

Rapidly  I  described  to  him  my  adventures,  and  bt 
heard  me  out  in  silence. 

"There  is  a  kind  of  fate  in  this,"  he  observed,  wheti. 
I  had  done.  "Every  step  it's  you  that  saves  our  lives; 
and  do  you  suppose  by  any  chance  that  we  are  going 
to  let  you  lose  yours?  That  would  be  a  poor  return, 
my  boy.  You  found  out  the  plot;  you  found  Ben  Gunn 
—the  best  deed  that  ever  you  did,  or  will  do,  though 
you  live  to  ninety.  Oh,  by  Jupiter!  and  talking  of  Ben 
Gunn,  why,  this  is  the  mischief  in  person.  Silver!" 
he  cried,  "Silver!  I'll  give  you  a  piece  of  advice,"  he 
continued,  as  the  cook  drew  near  again;  "don't  you  be 
in  any  great  hurry  after  that  treasure." 

"Why,  sir,  I  do  my  possible,  which  that  ain't,"  said 
Silver,  "I  can  only,  asking  your  pardon,  save  my  life 
and  the  boy's  by  seeking  for  that  treasure,  and  you 
may  lay  to  that." 

"Well,  Silver,"  replied  the  doctor,  "if  that  is  so,  I'll 
go  one  step  further;  look  out  for  squalls  when  you  find 
it!" 

"Sir,"  said  Silver,  "as  between  man  and  man,  that's 
too  much  and  too  little.  What  you're  after,  why  you 
left  the  block-house,why  you  have  given  me  that  chart, 
I  don't  know  now,  do  I?  and  yet  I  done  your  bidding 
with  my  eyes  shut  and  never  a  word  of  hope!  But  no, 
this  here's  too  much.  If  you  won't  tell  me  what  you 
mean  plain  out,  just  say  so,  and  I'll  leave  the  helm." 

"No/*  said  the  doctor,  musingly,  "I've  no  right  to 
say  more,  it's  not  my  secret,  you  see,  Silver,  or,  I  give 
you  my  word,  I'd  tell  it  you.  But  I'll  go  as  far  with 
you  as  I  dare  go,  and  a  step  beyond,  for  I'll  have  my 
wig  sorted  by  the  captain,  or  I'm  mistaken!  And,  first, 
I'll  give  you  a  bit  of  hope;  Silver,  if  we  both  get  alive 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  2W 

out  of  this  wolf-trap,  I'll  do  my  best  to  sav©$ou,  short 
of  perjury." 

Silver's  face  was  radiant.  "You  couldn't  say  more, 
I'm  sure,  sir,  not  if  you  was  my  mother,"  he  cried. 

"Well,  that's  my  first  concession,"  added  the  doctor. 
"My  second  is  a  piece  of  advice:  Keep  the  boy  close 
beside  you,  andjwhen  you  need  help,  halloo.  I'm  off  to 
seek  it  for  you,  and  that  itself  will  show  you  if  I  speak 
at  random.    Good-bye,  Jim." 

And  Dr.  Livesey  shook  hands  with  me  through  the 
stockade,  nodded  to  Silver,  and  set  off  at  a  brisk  pace 
into  the  wood. 


TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  X'XXL 

THE  TREASURE   HUNT:  FLINT'S   POINTER. 

"Jim,"  said  Silver,  when  we  were  alone,  "if  I  saved 
your  life,  you  saved  mine;  and  I'll  not  forget  it.  I  seen 
the  doctor  waving  you  to  run  for  it — with  the  tail  of 
my  eye,  I  did;  and  I  seen  you  say  no,  as  plain  as  hear- 
ing. Jim,  that's  one  to  you.  This  is  the  first  glint  ot 
hope  I  had  since  the  attack  failed,  and  I  owe  it  you. 
And  now,  Jim,  we're  to  go  in  for  this  here  treasure- 
hunting,  with  sealed  orders,  too,  and  I  don't  like  it; 
and  you  and  me  must  stick  close,  back  to  back  like, 
and  we'll  save  our  necks  in  spite  o'  fate  and  fortune." 

Just  then  a  man  hailed  us  from  the  fire  that  break- 
fast was  ready,  and  we  were  soon  seated  here  and 
there  about  the  sand-over  biscuit  and  fried  junk.  They 
had  lighted  a  fire  fit  to  roast  an  ox;  and  it  was  now 
grown  so  hot  that  they  could  only  approach  it  from  the 
windward,  and  even  there  not  without  precaution.  In 
the  same  wasteful  spirit,  they  had  cooked,  I~suppose, 
three  times  more  than  we  could  eat;  and  one  of  them, 
with  an  empty  laugh,  threw  what  was  left  into  the  fire, 
which  blazed  and  roared  again  over  this  unusual  fuel. 
I  never  in  my  life  saw  men  so  careless  of  the  morrow; 
hand  to  mouth  is  the  only  word  that  can  describe  their 
way  of  doing;  and  what  with  wasted  food  and  sleeping 
sentries,  though  they  were  bold  enough  for  a  brush 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  209 

and  be  done  with  it,  I  could  see  their  entire  unfitness 
for  anything  like  a  prolonged  campaign. 

Sven  Silver,  eating  away,  with  Captain  Flint  upon 
his  shoulder,  had  not  a  word  of  blame  for  their  reck- 
lessness. And  this  the  more  surprised  me,  for  I 
thought  he  had  never  shown  himself  so  cunning  as  he 
did  then. 

"Ay,  mates,"  said  he,  "it's  lucky  you  have  Barbe- 
cue to  think  for  you  with  this  here  head.  I  got  what 
I  wanted,  I  did.  Sure  enough,  they  have  the  ship. 
Where  they  have  it,  I  don't  know  yet;  but  once  we  hit 
the  treasure,  we'll  have  to  jump  about  and  find  out. 
And  then,  mates,  us  that  has  the  boats,  I  reckon,  has 
the  upper  hand." 

Thus  he  kept  running  on,  with  his  mouth  full  of  the 
hot  bacon;  thus  he  restored  their  hope  and  confidence, 
and,  I  more  than  suspect,  repaired  his  own  at  the  same 
time. 

"As  for  hostage,"  he  continued,  "that's  his  last  talk, 
I  guess,  with  them  he  loves  so  dear.  I've  got  my  piece 
o'  news,  and  thanky  to  him  for  that;  but  it's  over  and 
done.  I'll  take  him  in  a  line  when  we  go  treasure- 
hunting,  fer  we'll  keep  him  like  so  much  gold,  in  case 
of  accidents,  yeu  mark,  and  in  the  meantime,  once  we 
got  the  ship  and  treasure  both,  and  off  to  sea  like  jolly 
companions,  why,  then  we'll  talk  Mr.  Hawkins  over, 
we  will,  and  we'll  give  him  his  share,  to  be  sure,  for  all 
his  kindness." 

It  was  no  wonder  the  men  were  in  a  good  humor 
now.  For  my  part,  I  was  horribly  cast  down.  Should 
the  scheme  he  had  now  sketched  prove  feasible,  Sil- 
ver, already  doubly  a  traitor,  would  not  hesitate  to 
adopt  it.  He  had  still  a  foot  in  either  camp,  and  there 
was  no  doubt  he  would  prefer  wealth  and  freedom 
with  the  pirates  to  a  bare  escape  from  hanging,  which 
was  the  best  he  had!  to  hope  on  our  side. 


21©  TREASURE  ISLAND*. 

Nay,  and  even  if  things  so  fell  out  that  he  was 
forced  to  keep  his  faith  with  Dr.  Livesey,  even  then 
what  danger  lay  before  us!  "What  a  moment  that 
would  be  when  the  suspicions  of  his  followers  tuYned 
to  certainty,  and  he  and  I  should  have  to  fight  for  dear 
life — he,  a  cripple,  and  I,  a  boy — against  five  strong 
and  active  seamen! 

Add  to  this  double  apprehension,  the  mystery  that 
still  hung  over  the  behavior  of  my  friends;  their  unex- 
plained desertion  of  the  stockade;  their  inexplicable 
cession  of  the  chart;  or,  harder  still  to  understand,  the 
doctor's  last  warning  to  Silver,  "Look  out  for  squalls 
when  you  find  it;"  and  you  will  readily  believe  how 
little  taste  I  found  in  my  breakfast,  and  with  how 
uneasy  a  heart  I  set  forth  behind  my  captors  on  the 
quest  for  treasure. 

We  made  a  curious  figure,  had  any  one  been  there  to 
see  us;  all  in  soiled  sailor  clothes,  and  all  but  me 
armed  to  the  teeth.  Silver  had  two  guns  slung  about 
him,  one  before  and  one  behind — besides  the  great  cut- 
lass at  his  waist,  and  a  pistol  in  each  pocket  of  his 
square-tailed  coat.  To  complete  his  strange  appear- 
ance, Captain  Flint  sat  perched  upon  his  shoulder  aisd 
gabbled  odds  and  ends  of  purposeless  sea-talk.  I  ha£ 
a  line  about  my  waist,  and  followed  obediently  after 
the  sea-cook,  who  held  the  loose  end  of  the  rape,  now 
in  his  free  hand,  now  between  his  powerful  teeth.  For 
all  the  world,  I  was  led  like  a  dancing  bear. 

The  other  men  were  variously  burdened;  some  car- 
rying picks  and  shovels — for  that  had  been  the  very 
first  necessary  they  brought  ashore  from  the  "Hispan- 
iola" — others  laden  with  work,  bread,  and  brandy  for 
the  midday  meal.  All  the  stores,  I  observed,  came 
from  our  stock;  and  I  could  see  the  truth  of  Silver's 
words  the  night  before.  Had  he  not  struck  a  bargain 
with  the  doctor  he  and  his  mutineers,  deserted  by  the 
ship,  must  have  been  driven  to  subsist  on  clear  water, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  211 

and  tlie  proceeds  of  their  hunting.  Water  would  have 
been  little  to  their  taste;  a  sailor  is  not  usually  a  good 
shot;  and,  besides  all  that,  when  they  were  so  short 
of  eatables,  it  was  not  likely  they  would  be  very  flush 
of  powder. 

Well,  thus  equipped,  we  all  set  out — even  the  fellow 
with  the  broken  head,  who  should  certainly  have  kept 
in  shadow— and  straggled,  one  after  another,  to  the 
beach,  where  the  two  gigs  awaited  us.  Even  these 
bore  trace  of  the  drunken  folly  of  the  pirates,  one  in  a 
broken  thwart,  and  both  in  their  muddled  and  un- 
bailed condition.  Both  were  to  be  carried  along  with 
us,  for  the  sake  of  safety;  and  so,  with  our  numbers 
divided  between  them,  we  set  forth  upon  tha  bosom  of 
the  anchorage.     . 

As  we  pulled"  over  there  was  some  discussion  on  the 
chart.  The  red  cross  was,  of  course,  far  too  large  to 
be  a  guide;  and  the  terms  of  the  note  on  the  back,  as 
you  will  hear,  admitted  of  some  ambiguity.  They  ran, 
the  reader  may  remember,  thus: 

"Tall  tree,  Spy-glass  shoulder,  bearing  a  point  to 
the  N.  of  N.  N.  E. 

"Skeleton  Island  E.  S.  E.  and  by  E. 

"Ten  feet." 

A  tall  tree  was  thus  the  principal  mark.  Now,  right 
before  us,  the  anchorage  was  bounded  by  a  plateau 
from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  high,  adjoining  on  the 
north  the  sloping  southern  shoulder  of  the  Spy-glass, 
and  rising  again  toward  the  south  into  the  rough,  cliffy 
eminence  called  the  Mizzen-mast  Hill.  The  top  of  the 
plateau  was  dotted  thickly  with  pine  trees  of  varying 
height.  Every  here  and  there,  one  of  a  different  spe» 
eies  rose  forty  or  fifty  feet  clear  above  its  neighbors, 
and  which  -of  tbese  was  the  particular  "tall  tree"  01 
Captain  Flint  could  only-be  decided  on  the  spot,  and 
by  the  readings  of  the  compass. 

Yet,  although  that  was  the  case,  every  man  on  board 


512  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

th©  boats  had  picked  a  favorite  of  his  own  ere  we  were 
half-way  over,  Long  John  alone  shrugging  his  shoul- 
ders and  bidding  them  wait  till  they  were  there. 

We  pulled  easily,  by  Silver's  directions,  not  to  weary 
the  hands. prematurely;  and,  after  quite  a  long  pas- 
sage, landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  second  river — that 
which  runs  down  a  woody  cleft  of  the  Spy-glass. 
Thence,  bending  to  our  left,  we  began  to  ascend  the 
slope  toward  the  plateau. 

At  the  first  outset,  heavy,  miry  ground  and  a  matted, 
marsh  vegetation,  greatly  delayed  our  progress;  but 
by  little  and  little  the  hill  began  to  steepen  and  be- 
come stony  under  foot,  and  the  wood  to  change  its 
character  and  to  grow  in  a  more  open  order.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  most  pleasant  portion  of  the  island  that  we 
were  now  approaching.  A  heavy-scented  broom  and 
many  flowering  shrubs  had  almost  taken  the  place  of 
grass.  Thickets  of  green  nutmeg-trees  were  dotted 
here  and  there  with  the  red  columns  and  the  broad 
shadow  of  the  pines;  and  the  first  mingled  their  spice 
with  the  aroma  of  the  others.  The  air,  besides,  was 
fresh  and  stirring,  and  this,  under  the  sheer  sun- 
beams, was  a  wonderful  refreshment  to  our  senses. 

The  party  spread  itself  abroad,  in  a  fan  shape,  shout- 
ing and  leaping  to  and  fro.  About  the  center,  and  a 
good  way  behind  the  rest,  Silver  and  I  followed— I 
tethered  by  my  rope,  he  plowing,  with  deep  pants, 
among  the  sliding  gravel.  From  time  to  time,  indeed, 
I  had  to  lend  him  a  hand,  or  he  must  have  missed  his 
footing  and  fallen  backward  down  the  hill. 

We  had  thus  proceeded  for  about  half  a  mile,  and 
were  approaching  the  brow  of  the  plateau,  when  the 
men  upon  the  furthest  left  began  te  cry  aloud,  as  if  in 
terror.  Shout  after  shout  came  from  him,  and  the 
others  began  to  run  in  his  direction. 

"Re  can't  have  found  the  treasure,"  said  old  Mor- 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  213 

gan,  hurrying  past  us  from  the  right,  "for  that's  clean 
a-top." 

Indeed,  as  we  found  when  we  also  reached  the  spot, 
it  was  something  very  different.  At  the  foot  of  a  pret- 
ty big  pine,  and  involved  in  a  green  creeper,  which 
had  even  partly  lifted  some  of  the  smaller  bones,  a 
human  skeleton  lay,  with  a  few  shreds  of  clothing,  on 
the  ground.  I  believe  a  chill  struck  for  a  moment  to 
every  heart. 

"He  was  a  seaman,"  said  George  Merry,  who,  bolder 
than  the  rest,  had  gone  up  close,  and  was  examining 
the  rags  ©f  clothing.  "Leastways,  this  is  good  sea* 
cloth." 

"Ay,  ay,"  said  Silver,  "like  enough;  you  wouldn't 
look  to  find  a  bishop  here,  I  reckon.  But  what  sort  of 
a  way  is  that  for  bones  to  lie?    'Tain't  in  natur.'  " 

Indeed,  on  a  second  glance,  it  seemed  impossible  t© 
fancy  that  the  body  was  in  a  natural  position.  But 
for  some  disarray  (the  work  jerhaps,  of  the  birds  that 
had  fed  upon  him,  or  of  the  slow-growing  creeper  that 
had  gradually  enveloped  his  remains)  the  man  lay 
perfectly  straight — his  feet  pointing  in  one  direction, 
his  hands,  raised  above  his  head  like  a  diver's,  point- 
ing directly-  in  the  opposite. 

"I've  taken  a  notion  into  my  old  numskull,"  ob- 
served Silver.  "Here's  the  compass;  there's  the  tip- 
top p'int  of  Skeleton  Island,  stickin'  out  like  a  tooth. 
Just  take  a  bearing,  will  you,  along  the  line  of  them 
bones." 

It  was  done.  The  body  pointed  straight  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  island,  and  the  compass  read  duly  B.  S.  E, 
by  B. 

"I  thought  so,"  cried  the  cook;  "this  here  is  %-. 
p'inter.  Right  up  there  is  our  line  for  the  Pole  Star 
and  the  jelly  dollars.  But,,  by  thunder!  it  it  don't 
make  me  cold  inside  to  thinK  of  ^Jint.  Tnis  is  *»©e  of 
Ms  jokes,  and  no  mistake.    Him  and  these  si?  w*»s 


ii*  TREASURE  ISLANJ>. 

alone  feere;  he  killed  'em,  every  mail;  and  this  ^ne  he 
hauled  here  and  laid  down  by  compass,  shiver  my 
timbers !  They're  long  bones,  and  the  hair's  been  yel- 
low. Ay,  that  would  be  Allardyce.  You  mind  Allar- 
dyee,  Tom  Morgan?" 

"Ay,  ay,"  returned  Morgan,  "I  mind  him;  he  owed 
me  money,  he  did,  and  took  my  knife  ashore  with 
him," 

"Speaking  of  knives,"  said  another,  "why  don't  we 
find  his'n  lying  round?  Flint  warn't  the  man  to  pick 
a  seaman's  pocket;  and  the  birds,  I  guess,  would  leave 
it  be." 

"By  the  powers,  and  that's  true!"  cried  Silver. 

"There  ain't  a  thing  left  here,"  said  Merry,  still  feel- 
ing round  among  the  bones,  "not  a  copper  doit  nor  a 
baccy  box.    It  don't  look  naf  ral  to  me." 

"No,  by  gum,  it  don't,"  agreed  Silver;  "not  nat'rai, 
nor  not  nice,  says  you.  Great  guns!  messmates,  but 
if  Flint  was  living,  this  would  be  a  hot  spot  for  you 
and  me.  Six  they  were  and  six  are  we;  and  benes  is 
what  they  are  now." 

"I  saw  him  dead  with  these  here  deadlights,"  said 
Morgan.  "Billy  took  me  in.  There  he  laid,  with  pen- 
ny-pieces on  his  eyes." 

"Dead — ay,  sure  enough  he's  dead  and  gone  below," 
said  the  fellow  with  the  bandage;  *'but  if  ever  sperrit 
walked,  it  would  be  Flint's.  Dear  heart,  but  he  died 
bad,  did  Flint!" 

"Ay,  that  he  did,"  observed  another;  "now  he  raged, 
and  now  he  hollered  for  the  rum,  and  now  he  sung. 
'Fifteen  Men'  were  his  only  song,  mates;  and  I  tell 
you  true,  I  never  rightly  liked  to  hear  it  since.  It  was 
main  hot,  and  the  windy  was  open,  and  I  hear  that  old 
song  comin'  out  as  clear  as  clear — and  the  death-haul 
on  the  man  already." 

****i*ae,  come,"  said  Silver,  "stow  this  talk.  He's 
*au<U  and  he  do&'&  walk,  that  I  know;  leastways,  he 


TREASURE  ISLAND,  US 

won't  walk  by  day,  and  you  may  lay  to  thai    ©aw 
killed  a  cat   Fetch  ahead  for  the  doubloons," 

We  started,  certainly;  but  in  spite  of  the  hot  aun  and 
the  staring  daylight,  the  pirates  no  longer  ran  sepa- 
rate and  shouting  through  the  wood,  hut  kept  side  by 
side  and  spoke  with  bated  breath.  The  terror  of  t§@ 
dead  buccaneer  had  fallen  on  their  spirits. 


TREASURE  lSI^AJMU 


CHAPTER  XXXIL 

THE   TREASURE    HUNT:    THE  VOICE    AMONG 

THE  TREES. 

Partly  from  the  damping  influence  ot  this  alarm, 
partly  to  rest  Silver  and  the  sick  folk,  the  whole  party- 
sat  down  as  soon  as  they  had  gained  the  hrow  of  the 
ascent. 

The  plateau  being  somewhat  tilted  toward  the  west, 
this  spot  on  which  we  had  paused  commanded  a  wide 
prospect  on  either  hand.  Before  us,  over  the  tree-tops, 
we  beheld  the  Cape  of  the  Woods  fringed  with  surf; 
behind,  we  net  only  looked  down  upon  the  anchorage 
and  Skeleton  Island,  but  saw — clear  across  the  spit  and 
the  eastern  lowlands — a  great  field  of  open  sea  upon 
the  east.  Sheer  above  us  rose  the  Spy-glass,  here  dot- 
ted with  single  pines,  there  black  with  precipices. 
There  was  no  sound  but  that  of  the  distant  breakers, 
mounting  from  all  round,  and  the  chirp  of  countless 
insects  in  the  brush.  Not  a  man,  not  a  sail  upon  the 
sea;  the  very  largeness  of  the  view  increased  the  sense 
of  solitude. 

Silver,  as  he  sat,  took  certain  bearings  with  his  com- 
pass. 

"There  are  three  'tall  trees/  "  said  he,  "about  in  the 
right  line  from  Skeleton  Island.  'Spy-glass  Shoulder,' 
I  take  it,  means  that  lower  p'int  there.    It's  child's 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  217 

play  to  find  the  stuff  now.    I've  half  a  mind  t©  dine 
first." 

"I  don't  feel  sharp,"  growled  Morgan.  "Thinkin'  o' 
Flint — I  think  it  were — as  done  me." 

"Ah,  well,  my  son,  you  praise  your  stars  he's  dead," 
said  Silver. 

"He  was  an  ugly  devil,"  cried  a  third  pirate,  with  a 
shudder:  "that  blue  in  the  face,  too!" 

"That  was  how  the  rum  took  him,"  added  Merry. 
"Blue!  well,  I  reckon  he  was  blue.  Tfeat's  a  true 
word." 

Ever  since  they  had  found  the  skeleton  and  got  upon 
this  train  of  thought,  they  had  spoken  lower  and 
lower,  and  they  had  almost  got  to  whispering  by  now, 
so  that  the  sound  of  their  talk  hardly  interrupted  the 
silence  of  the  wood.  All  of  a  sudden,  out  ©f  the  mid- 
dle of  the  trees  in  front  of  us,  a  thin,  high,  trembling 
voice  struck  up  the  well-known  air  and  words: — 
"Fifteen  men  on  the  dead  man's  chest — 
Yo-ho-ho,  and  a  bottle  of  rum!" 

I  never  have  seen  men  more  dreadfully  affected  than 
the  pirates.  The  color  went  from  their  six  faces  like 
enchantment;  some  leaped  to  their  feet,  some  clawed 
hold  of  others;  Morgan  groveled  on  the  ground. 

"It's  Flint,  by !"  cried  Merry. 

The  song  had  stopped  as  suddenly  as  it  began — 
broken  off,  you  would  have  said,  in  the  middle  of  a 
note,  as  though  some  one  had  laid  his  hand  upon  the 
singer's  mouth.  Coming  so  far  through  the  clear, 
sunny  atmosphere  among  the  green  tree-tops,  I  thought 
it  had  sounded  airily  and  sweetly;  and  the  effect  on 
my  companions  was  the  stranger. 

"Come,"  said  Silver,  struggling  with  his  ashen  lips 
to  get  the  word  out,  "that  won't  do.  Stand  by  to  go 
about.  This  is  a  rum  start,  and  I  can't  name  the  voice, 
but  it's  some  one  skylarking — some  one  that's  flesh 
and  blood,  and  you  may  lay  to  that." 


218  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

His  courage  had  come  back  as  he  spoke,  and  some 
of  the  color  of  his  face  along  with  it.  Already  the 
others  had  begun  to  lend  an  ear  to  this  encourage- 
ment, and  were  coming  a  little  to  themselves,  when 
the  same  voice  broke  out  again— not  this  time  singing, 
but  in  a  faint,  distant  hail,  that  echoed  yet  fainter 
among  the  clefts  of  the  Spy-glass. 

"Darby  M'Graw,"  it  wailed — for  that  is  the  word 
that  best  describes  the  sound — "Darby  M'Graw!  Dar- 
by M'Graw!"  again  and  again  and  again;  and  then  ris- 
ing a  little  higher,  and  with  an  oath  that  I  leave  out; 
"Fetch  aft  the  rum,  Darby!" 

The  buccaneers  remained  rooted  to  the  ground,  their 
eyes  starting  from  their  heads..  Long  after  the  voice 
had  died  away  they  still  stared  in  silence,  dreadfully, 
before  them. 

"That  fixes  it!"  gasped  one.    "Let's  go." 

"They  was  his  last  words,"  moaned  Mongan,  "his 
last  words  above-board." 

DiGk  had  his  Bible  out,  and  was  praying  volubly. 
He  had  been  well  brought  up,  had  Dick,  before  he 
came  to  sea  and  fell  among  bad  companions. 

Still,  Silver  was  unconquered.  I  could  hear  his 
teeth  rattle  in  his  head;  but  he  had  not  ye*  surren- 
dered. 

"Nobody  in  this  here  island  ever  heard  of  Darby," 
he  muttered;  "not  one  but  us  that's  here."  And  then, 
making  a  great  effort,  "Shipmates,"  he  cried,  "I'm  here 
to  get  that  stuff,  and  I'll  not  be  beat  by  man  nor 
deviL  I  never  was  feared  of  Flint  in  his  life,  and,  by 
the  powers,  I'll  face  him  dead.  There's  seven  hundred 
thousand  pound  not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  here. 
When  did  ever  a  gentleman  o'  fortune  show  his  stern 
to  that  much  dollars,  for  a  boosy  old  seaman  with  a 
blue  mug— «nd  him  dead,  too?" 

But  there  was  no  sign  of  reawakening  courage  in  his 


TREASURE    ISLAND.  219 

followers;  rather,  indeed,  of  growing  terror  at  the 
irreverence  of  his  words.  v 

"Belay,  there,  John!"  said  Merry.  "Don't  you  eross 
a  sperrit". 

And  the  rest  were  all  too  terrified  to  reply.  They 
Would  have  run  away  severally  had  they  dared,  but 
fear  kept  them  together,  and  kept  them  close  by  John, 
as  if  his  daring  helped  them.  He,  on  his  part,  had 
pretty  well  fought  his  weakness  down. 

"Sperrit?  Well,  maybe,"  he  said.  "But  there's  one 
thing  not  clear  to  me.  There  was  an  echo.  Now,  no 
man  ever,  seen  a  sperrit  with,  a  shadow;  well,  then, 
what's  he  doing  with  an  echo  to  him,  I  should  like  to 
know?  That  ain't  in  natur',  surely?" 

This  argument  seemed  weak  enough  to  me.  But  you 
can  never  tell  what  will  affect  the  superstitious,  and, 
to  my  wonder,  George  Merry  was  greatly  relieved. 

"Well,  that's  so,"  he  said.  "You've  a  head  upon 
your  shoulders,  John,  and  no  mistake.  'Bout  ship, 
mates  J  This  here  crew  is  on  the  wrong  tack,  I  do 
believe.  And  come  to  think  on  it,  it  was  like  Flint's 
voice,  I  grant  you,  but  not  just  so  clear  away  like  it, 
after  all.  It  was  liker  somebody  else's  voice  n6w— it 
was  liker — " 

"By  the  powers,  Ben  Gunn!"  roared  Silver. 

"Ay,  and  so  it  were,"  cried  Morgan,  springing  on  his 
knees.    "Ben  Gunn  it  were!" 

"It  don't  make  much  odds,  do  it,  now?"  asked  Dick. 
"Ben  Gunn's  not  here  in  the  body,  any  more'n  Flint." 

But  the  older  hands  greeted  this  remark  with  scorn. 
"Why,  nobody  minds  Ben  Gunn,"  cried  Merry;  "dead 
or  alive,  nobody  minds  him." 

It  was  extraordinary  how  their  spirits  had  returned, 
and  how  the  natural  color  had  revived  in  their  faces. 
Soon  they  were  chatting  together,  with  intervals  of 
listening?  and  not  long  after,  hearing  no  further 
sound,  they  shouldered  the  tools  and  set  forth  again, 


220  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

Merry  walking  first  with  Silver's  compass  to  keep 
them  on  the  right  line  with  Skeleton  Island.  He  had 
said  the  truth:  dead  or  alive,  nobody  minded  Ben 
Gunn. 

Dick  alone  still  held  his  Bible,  and  looked  around 
him  as  he  went,  with"  fearful  glances;  but  he  found 
no  sympathy,  and  Silver  even  joked  him  on  his  pre* 
cautions. 

"I  told  you,"  said  he — "I  told  you,  you  had  sp'iled 
your  Bible.  If  it  ain't  no  good  to  swear  by,  what  do 
you  suppose  a  sperrit  would  give  for  it?  Not  that!" 
and  he  snapped  his  big  fingers,  halting  a  moment  on 
his  crutch. 

But  Dick  was  not  to  be  comforted;  indeed,  it  wa& 
soon  plain  to  me  that  the  lad  was  falling  sick;  has- 
tened by  heat,  exhaustion,  and  the  shock  of  his  alarm, 
the  fever,  predicted  by  Dr.  Livesey,  was  evidently 
growing  swiftly  higher. 

It  was  fine  open  walking  here,  upon  the  summit;  our 
way  lay  a  little  downhill,  for,  as  I  have  said,  the  plat- 
eau tilted  toward  the  west.  The  pines,  great  and 
small,  grew  wide  apart;  and  even  between  the  clumps 
of  nutmeg  and  azalea,  wide  open  spaces  baked  in  the 
hot  sunshine.  Striking,  as  we  did,  pretty  near  north- 
west across  the  island,  we  drew,  on  the  one  hand,  ever 
nearer  under  the  shoulders  of  the  Spy-glass,  and  on 
the  other,  looked  ever  wider  over  that  western  bay 
where  I  had  once  tossed  and  trembled  in  the  coracle. 

The  first  of  the  tall  trees  was  reached;  and  by  the 
bearing,  proved  the  wrong  one.  So  with  the  second. 
The  third  rose  nearly  two  hundred  feet  into  the  air 
above  a  clump  of  underwood;  a  giant  of  a  vegetable, 
with  a  red  column  as  big  as  a  cottage,  and  a  wide 
shadow  around  in  which  a  company  could  have  maneu- 
vered. It  was  conspicuous  far  to  sea  both  on  the  east 
and  west,  and  might  have  been  entered  as  a  sailing 
mark  upon  the  chart. 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  221 

But  it  was  not  its  size  that  now  impressed  my  com- 
panions; it  was  the  knowledge  that  seven  hundred 
thousand  pQunds  in  gold  lay  somewhere  buried  below 
its  spreading  shadow.  The  thought  of  the  money,  as 
they  drew  nearer,  swallowed  up  their  previous  terrors. 
Their  eyes  burned  in  their  heads;  their  feet  grew 
speedier  and  lighter;  their  whole  soul  was  bound  up  in 
that  fortune,  that  whole  lifetime  of  -extravagance  and 
pleasure,  that  lay  waiting  there  for  each  of  them. 

Silver  hobbled,  grunting,  on  his  crutch,  his  nostrils 
stood  out  and  quivered;  he  cursed  like  a  madman  when 
the  flies  settled  on  his  hot  and  shiny  countenance;  he 
plucked  furiously  at  the  line  that  held  me  to  him,  and 
from  timeHo  time,  turned  his  eyes  upon  me  with  a 
deadly  look.  Certainly  he  took  no  pains  to  hide  his 
thoughts;  and  certainly  I  read  them  like  print.  In  the 
immediate  nearness  of  the  gold,  all  else  had  been  for- 
gotten; his  promise  and  the  doctor's  warning  were 
both  things  ©f  the  past;  and  I  could  not  doubt  that  he 
hoped  to  seize  upon  the  treasure;  find  and  board  the 
"Hispaniola"  under  cover  of  night,  cut  every  honest 
throat  about  that  island,  and  sail  away  as  he  had  at 
first  intended,  laden  with  crimes  and  riches. 

Shaken  as  I  was  with  these  alarms,  it  was  hard  for 
me  to  keep  up  with  the  rapid  pace  of  the  treasure- 
hunters.  Now  and  again  I  tumbled;  and  it  was  then 
that  Silver  plucked  so  roughly  at  the  rope  and 
launched  at  me  his  murderous  glances.  Dick,  who  had 
dropped  behind  us,  and  now  brought  up  the  rear,  was 
babbling  to  himself  both  prayers  and  curses,  as  his 
fever  kept  rising.  This  also  added  to  my  wretched- 
ness, and,  to  crown  all,  I  was  haunted  by  the  thought 
of  the  tragedy  that  had  once  been  acted  on  that  plat- 
eau, When  that  ungodly  buccaneer  with  the  blue  face 
— he  who  hatl  died  at  Savannah,  singing  and  shouting 
for  drinl&— had  there,  with  his  own  hand,  cut  down  his 
six  accomplices.    This  grove,  that  was  now  so  peace- 


222  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

ful,  must  then  have  rung  with  cries,  I  thought;  and 
even  with  the  thought  I  could  believe  I  heard  it  ring- 
ing still. 

We  were  now  at  the  margin  of  the  thicket. 

"Huzza,  mates,  altogether!"  shouted  Merry;  and  the 
foremost  broke  into  a  run. 

And  suddenly,  not  ten  yards  further,  we  beheld  them 
stop.  A  low  cry  arose.  Silver  doubled  his  pace,  dig- 
ging away  with  the  foot  of  his  crutch  like  one  pos- 
sessed, and  next  moment  he  and  I  had  come  also  to  a 
dead  halt. 

Before  us  was  a  great  excavation,  not  very  recent, 
for  the  sides  had  fallen  in  and  grass  had  sprouted  on 
the  bottom,  In  this  were  the  shaft  of  a  pick  broken 
in  two  and  the  boards  of  several  packing-cases  strewn 
around.  On  one  of  these  boards  I  saw,  branded  with 
a  hot  iron,  the  name  "Walrus"--the  name  of  Flint's 
ship. 

All  was  clear  to  probation.  The  cache  had  been 
found  and  rifled— -the  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds 
were  gone] 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  £23 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE  PALL  OF  A  CHIEFTAIN. 

There  never  was  such  an  overturn  in  this  world, 
Each  of  these  six  men  was  as  though  he  had  beeii 
struck.  But  with  Silver  the  blow  passed  almost  in* 
stantly.  Every  thought  of  his  soul  had  been  set  full- 
stretch,  like  a  racer,  on  that  money;  well,  he  was 
brought  up  in  a  single  second,  dead;  and  he  kept  his 
head,  found  his  temper,  and  changed  his  plan  before 
the  others  had  had  time  to  realize  the  disappointment. 

"Jim,"  he  whispered,  "take  that,  and  stand  by  for 
trouble." 

And  he  passed  me  a  double-barreled  pistol. 

At  the  same  time  he  began  quietly  moving  north- 
ward, and  in  a  few  steps  had  put  the  hollow  between 
us  two  and  the  other  five.  Then  he  looked  at  me  and 
nodded,  a%  much  as  to  say,  "Here  is  a  narrow  corner," 
as,  indeed,  I  thought  it  was.  His  looks  were  now  ouite 
friendly;  and  I  was  so  revolted  at  these  constant 
changes,  that  I  could  not  forbear  whispering,  "So 
you've  changed  aides  again." 

There  was  no  time  left  for  him  to  answer  in,  The 
buccaneers,  with  oaths  and  cries,  began  to  leap,  one 
after  another,  into  the  pit,  and  to  dig  with  their  fin- 
gers, throwing  the  boards  aside  as  they  did  so»  Mor- 
gan found  a  piece  of  gold.    He  held  it  up  with  a  per- 


fB&ASOKE  ISLAND. 

feet  spout  of  oaths.  It  was  a  two-guinea  piece,  and  it 
went  from  haad  to  hand  among  them  for  a  quarter  of 
%  minute. 

"Two  guineas!"  roared  Merry,  shaking  it  at  Silver^ 
"That's  your  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds,  is  it! 
You're  the  man  for  bargains,  ain't  you?  You're  him 
that  never  bungled  nothing,  you  wooden-headed  lub* 
ber!" 

"Dig  away,  boys,"  said  Silver,  with  the  coolest  inso- 
lence; "you'll  find  some  pig-nuts,  and  I  shouldn't  won* 
der." 

"Pig-auts!"  repeated  Merry,  in  a  scream.  "Mates, 
do  you  hear  that?  I  tell  you,  now,  that  man  thera 
knew  it  all  along.  Look  in  the  face  of  him,  and  you'll 
see  H  wrote  there," 

"Ah,  Merry,"  remarked  Silver,  "standing  for  cap'o 
again?  You're  a  pushing  lad,  to  be  sure." 

But  this  time  every  one  was  entirely  in  Merry's 
favor.  They  began  to  scramble  out  of  the  excavation, 
Parting  furious  glances  behind  them.  One  thing  I 
observes*,  which  looked  well  for  us;  they  all  got  out 
upon  the  oposite  side  from  Silver. 

Well,  there  we  stood,  two  on  one  side,  five  on  the 
other,  the  pit  between  us,  and  nobody  screwed  up 
high  enough  to  offer  the  first  blow.  Silver  neve* 
moved;  he  watched  them,  very  upright  on  his  crutch, 
and  looked  as  cool  as  ever  I  saw  him.  He  was  brave, 
and  no  mistake. 

At  last,  Merry  seemed  to  think  a  speech  might  help 
matters. 

"Mates,"  says  he,  "there's  two  of  them  alone  there j 
one's  the  old  cripple  that  brought  us  all  here  and  blun- 
dered us  down  to  this;  the  other's  that  cub  that  I  mean 
to  have  the  heart  of.    Now,  mates—" 

He  was  raising  his  arm  and  his  voice,  and  plainly 
meant  to  lead  a  charge.  But  just  then — crack!  crack! 
sraek!— three  musket-shots  flashed  out  of  the  thicket 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  225 

Merry  tumbled  head  foremost  into  the  excavation;  the 
man  with  the  bandage  spun  round  like  a  teetotum,  and 
fell  all  his  length  upon  his  side,  where  he  lay  dead, 
but  still  twitching;  and  the  other  three  turned  and  ran 
for  it  with  all  their  might. 

Before  you  could  wink  Long  John  had  fired  two  bar- 
rels of  a  pistol  into  the  struggling  Merry;  and  as  the 
man  rolled  up  his  eyes  at  him  in  the  last  agony, 
"George,"  said  he,  "I  reckon  I  settled  you." 

At  the  same  moment  the  doctor,  Gray,  and  Ben 
Gunn  joined  us,  with  smoking  muskets,  from  among 
the  nutmeg-trees.^ 

"Forward!"  cried  the  doctor.  "Double  quick,  my 
lads.    We  must  head  'em  off  the  boats." 

And  we  set  off  at  a  great  pace,  sometimes  plunging 
through  the  bushes  to  the  chest. 

I  tell  you,  but  Silver  was  anxious  to  keep  up  with 
us.  The  work  that  man  went  through,  leaping  on  his 
crutch  till  the  muscles  of  his  chest  were  fit  to  burst, 
was  work  no  sound  man  ever  equaled;  and  so  thinks 
the  doctor.  As  it  was,  he  was  already  thirty  yards 
behind  us,  and  on  the  verge  of  strangling,  when  we 
reached  the  brow  of  the  slope. 

"Doctor,"  he  hailed,  "see  there!  no  hurry!" 

Sure  enough  there  was  no  hurry.  In  a  more  open 
part  of  the  plateau,  we  could  see  the  three  survivors 
still  running  in  the  same  direction  as  they  had  started, 
right  for  Mizzen-mast  Hill.  We  were  already  between 
them  and  the  boats;  and' so  we  four  sat  down  to 
breathe,  while  Long  John,  mopping  his  face,  came 
slowly  up  with  us. 

"Thank  ye  kindly,  doctor,"  says  he.  "You  came  in 
about  the  nick,  I  guess,  for  me  and  Hawkins,  And 
so  it's  you,  Ben  Gunn!"  he  added.  "Well,  you're  a  nice 
one  to  be  sure." 

"I'm  Ben  Gunn,  I  am,"  replied  the  maroon,  wrig- 
gling like  an  eel  in  his  embarrassment.    "And,"  he 


226  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

added,  after  a  long  pause,  "how  do,  Mr.  Silver!    Pretty 
well,  I  thank  ye,  says  you." 

*'Ben,  Ben,"  murmured  "Silver,  "to  think  as  you've 
done  me." 

The  doctor  sent  back  Gray  for  one  of  the  pick-axes, 
deserted,  in  their  flight,  by  the  mutineers;  and  then  as 
we  proceeded  leisurely  downhill  to  where  the  boats 
were  lying,  related  in  a  few  words,  what  had  taken 
place.  It  was  a  story  that  profoundly  interested  Sil- 
ver, and  Ben  Gunn,  the  half-idiot  maroon,  was  the 
hero  from  beginning  to  end. 

r  Ben,  in  his  long,  lonely  wanderings  about  the  island, 
had  found  the  skeleton — it  was  he  that  had  rifl?d  it;  he 
had  found  the  treasure ;  he  had  dug  it  up  (it  was  the 
half  of  his  pick-ax  that  lay  broken  in  the  excavation) ; 
he  had  carried  it  on  his  back,  in  many  weary  jour- 
neys, from  the  foot  of  the  tall  pine  to  a  cave  he  had 
on  the  two-pointed  hill  at  the  northeast  angle  of  the 
island,  and  there  it  had  laid  stored  in  safety  since  two 
months  before  the  arrival  of  the  "Hispaniola." 
,  When  t&e  doctor  had  wormed  this  secret  from  him, 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  attack,  and  when,  next  morn- 
ing, he  saw  the  anchorage  deserted,  he  had  gone  to  Sil- 
ver, given  him  the  chart,  which  was  now  useless- 
given  him  the  stores,  for  Ben  Gunn's  cave  was  well 
supplied  with  goats'  meat  salted  by  himself— given 
anything  and  everything  to  get  a  chance  of  moving 
in  safety  from  the  stockade  to  the  two-pointed  hill, 
there  to  fee  clear  of  malaria  and  keep  a  guaH  upon 
the  money. 

"As  for  you,  Jim,"  he  said,  "it  went  against  my 
heart,  but  I  did  what  I  thought  best  for  those  who 
had  stood  by  their  duty;  and  if  you  were  not  one  of 
these,  whose  fault  was  it?" 

That  morning,  finding  that  I  was  to  be  involved  in 
the  horrid  disappointment  he  had  prepared  for  the 
mutineers,  he  had  run  all  the  way  to  the  cave,  and, 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  227 

leaving  squire  to  guard  the  captain,  had  taken  Gray 
and  the  maroon,  and  started,  making  the  diagonal 
across  the  island,  to  be  at  hand  beside  the  pine.  Soon, 
however,  he  saw  that  our  party  had  the  start  of  him; 
and  Ben  Gunn,  being  fleet  of  foot,  had  been  dispatched 
in  front  to  do  his  best  alone.  Then  it  had  occurred 
to  him  to  work  upon  the  superstitions  of  his  former 
shipmates;  and  he  was  so  far  successful  that  Gray  and 
the  doctor  had  come  up  and  were  already  ambushed 
before  the  arrival  of  the  treasure-hunters. 

"Ah,"  said  Silver,  "it  was  fortunate  for  me  that  I 
had  Hawkins  here.  You  would  have  let  old  John  be 
cut  to  bits,  and  never  given  it  a  thought,  doctor." 

"Not  a  thought,"  replied  Dr.  Livesey,  cheerily. 

And  by  this  time  we  had  reached  the  gigs.  Silver,, 
though  he  was  almost  killed  already  with  fatigue,  was 
set  to  an  oar,  like  the  rest  of  us,  and  we  were  soon 
skimming  swiftly  over  a  smooth  sea.  Soon  we  passed 
out  of  the  straits  and  doubled  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  island  round  which,  four  days  ago,  we  had  towed 
the-"Hispaniola." 

As  we  passed  the  two-pointed  hill,  we  could  see  the 
black  mouth  of  Ben  Gunn's  cave,  and  a  figure  standing 
by  it,  leaning  on  a  musket.  It  was  the  squire;  and  he 
waved  a  handkerchief  and  gave  him  three  cheers,  in 
which  the  voice  of  Silver  joined  as  heartily  as  any. 

Three  miles  further,  just  inside  the  mouth  of  North 
inlet,  what  should  we  meet  but  the  "Hispaniola," 
cruising  by  herself.  The  last  flood  had  lifted  her ;  and 
had  there  been  much  wind,  or  a  strong  tide  current, 
as  in  the  southern  anchorage,  we  should  never  have 
found  her  more,  or  found  her  stranded  beyond  help. 
As  it  was,  there  was  little  amiss,  beyond  the  wreck  of 
the  mainsail.  Another  anchor  was  got  ready,  and 
dropped  in  a  fathom  and  a  half  of  water.  We  all  pulled 
round  again  to  Rum  Cove,  the  nearest  point  for  Ben 
Gunn's  treasure-house;  and  then  Gray,  single-handed, 


228  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

returned  with  the  gig  to  the  "Hispaniola,"  where  to 
was  to  pass, the  night  on  guard. 

A  gentle  slope  ran  up  from  the  beach  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  cave.  At  the  top,  the  squire  met  us.  To 
me  he  was  cordial  and  kind,  saying  nothing  of  my 
escapade,  either  in  the  way  of  blame  or  praise.  At 
Silver's  polite  salute  he  somewhat  flushed. 

"Jolpi  Silver,"  he  said,  "you're  a  prodigious  villaiD 
and  impostor — a  monstrous  impostor,  sir,  I  am  told  I 
am  not  to  prosecute  you.  Well,  then,  I  will  not.  But 
the  dead  men,  sir,  hang  about  your  neck  like  mill- 
stones." 

"Thank  you,  kindly,  sir,"  replied  Long  John,  again 
saluting. 

"How  dare  you  to  thank  me!"  cried  the  squire.  "It 
is  a  gross  dereliction  of  my  duty.    Stand  back!" 

And  thereupon  we  all  entered  the  cave.  It  was  a 
large,  airy  place,  with  a  little  spring  and  a  pool  of 
clear  water,  overhung  with  ferns.  The  floor  was  sand. 
Before  a  big  fire  lay  Captain  Smollett;  and  in  a  far 
corner,  only  duskily  flickered  over  by  the  blaze,  I  be- 
held great  heaps  of  coin  and  quadrilaterals  built  of 
bars  of  gold.  That  was  Flint's  treasure  that  we  had 
come  so  far  to  seek,  and  that  had  cost  already  the  lives 
of  seventeen  men  from  the  "Hispaniola."  How  many 
it  had  cost  in  the  amassing,  what  blood  and  sorrow, 
what  good  ships  scuttled  on  the  deep,  what  brave  men 
walking  the  plank  blindfold,  what  shot  of  cannon, 
what  shame  and  lies  and  cruelty,  perhaps  no  man 
alive  could  tell.  Yet  there  were  still  three  upon  that 
island — Silver,  and  old  Morgan,  and  Ben  Gunn — who 
had  each  taken  his  share  in  these  crimes,  as  each  had 
hoped  in  vain  to  share  in  the  reward. 

'Come  in,  Jim,"  said  the  captain.  "You're  a  good 
boy  in  your  line,  Jim;  but  I  don't  think  you  and  me'Il 
go  to  sea  again.    You're  too  much  of  the  born  favorite 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  i£29 

for  me.  Is  that  you,  John  Silver?  What  brings  you 
here,  man?"  _ 

"Gome  back  to  do  my  dooty,  sir,"  returned  Silver. 

"Ah!"  said  the  captain;  and  that  was  all  he  said. 

What  a  supper  I  had  of  it  that  night,  with  all  my 
friends  around  me;  and  what  a  meal  it  was,  with  Ben 
Gunn's  salted  goat,  and  some  delieacies  and  a  bottle  of 
old  wine  from  the  "Hispaniola."  Never,  I  am  sure, 
were  people  gayer  or  happier.  And  there  was  Silver, 
sitting  back  almost  out  of  the  firelight,  but  eating 
heartily,  prompt  to  spring  forward  when  anything 
was  wanted,  even  joining  quietly  in  our  laughter — the 
same  blind,  polite,  obsequious  seaman  of  the  vovage 
out. 


230  TREASURE  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

AND   LAST. 

The  next  morning  we  fell  early  to  work,  i:or  the 
transportation  of  this  great  mass  of  gold  near  a  mile 
by  land  to  the  beach,  and  thence  three  miles  by  boat 
to  the  "Hispaniola,"  was  a  considerable  task  for  so 
small  a  number  of  workmen.  The  three  fellows  still 
abroad  upon  the  island  did  not  greatly  trouble  us;  a 
single  sentry  on  the  shoulder  of  the  hill  was  sufficient 
to  insure  us  against  any  sudden  onslaught,  and  we 
thought,  besides,  they  had  more  than  enough  of  fight- 
ing. 

Therefore  the  work- was  pushed  on  briskly.  Gray  and 
Ben  Gunn  came  and  went  with  the  boat,  while  the  rest 
during  their  absence  piled  the  treasure  on  the  beach. 
Two  of  the  bars,  slung  in  a  rope's  end,  made  a  good 
load  for  a  grown  man — one  that  he  was  glad  to  walk 
slowly  with.  For  my  part,  as  I  was  not  much  use  at 
carrying,  I  was  kept  busy  all  day  in  the  cave,  packing 
the  minted  money  into  bread-bags. 

It  was  a  strange  collection,  like  Billy  Bones'  hoard 
for  the  diversity.of  coinage,  but  so  much  larger  and  so 
much  more  varied  that  I  think  I  never  had  more  pleas- 
ure than  in  sorting  them.  English,  French,  Spanish, 
Portuguese^  Georges,  and  Louises,  doubloons  and 
double  guineas  and  moidores  and  sequine,  the  pictures 


TREASURE  ISLAND,  231 

of  all  the  kings  of  Europe  for  the  last  hundred  yeaisg, 
strange  Oriental  pieces  stamped  wltli  what  looked  like 
wisps  ot  string  or  bits  of  spider's  web,  round  pieces 
and  square  pieces,  and  pieces  bored  through  the  mid- 
dle, as  if  to  wear  them  round  your  neck — nearly  every 
variety  of  money  in  the  world  must,  I  think,  have 
found  a  place  in  that  collection;  and  for  number,  I  am 
sure  they  were  like  autumn  leaves,  so  that  my  back 
ached  with  stooping  and  my  fingers  with  sjrttng  them 
out. 

Day  after  day  this  work  went  on;  by  every  evening 
a  fortune  had  been  stowed  aboard,  but  there  was  an- 
other fortune  waiting  for  the  morrow;  and  all  this 
time  we  heard  nothing  of  the  three  surviving  muti- 
neers. 

At  last— I  think  it  was  on  the  third  night— the  doc- 
tor and  I  were  strolling  on  the  shoulder  of  the  hill 
where  it  overlooks  the  lowlands  of  the  isle,  when, 
from  out  the  thiek  darkness  below,  the  wind  brought 
us  a  noise  between  shrieking  and  singing.  It  was  only 
a  snatch  that  reached  our  ears,  followed  by  the  former 
silence. 

"Heaven  forgive  them,"  said  the  doctor;  "tis  the 
mutineers  r 

"All  drunk,  sir,"  struck  in  the  voice  of  Silver  from 
behind  us. 

Silver,  I  should  say,  was  allowed  his  entire  liberty, 
and,  in  spite  of  daily  rebuffs,  seemed  to  regard  himself 
once  more  as  quite  a  privileged  and  friendly  depend- 
ent. Indeed,  it  was  remarkable  how  well  he  bore 
these  slights,  and  with  what  unwearying  politeness 
he  kept  at  trying  to  ingratiate  himself  with  all.  Tet, 
I  think,  none  treated  him  better  than  a  dog?  unless  it 
was  Ben  Gunn,  who  was  still  terribly  afraid  of  his  old 
quarter-master,  or  myself,  who  had  reall®  something 
to  thank  him  for;  although  for  that  matter*  X  suppose, 
I  had  reason  to  think  even  worse  of  him  than  anybody 


232  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

else,  for  I  had  seen  him  meditating  a  fresh  treach  ry 
upen  the  plateau.  Accordingly,  it  was  pretty  gruffly 
that  the  doctor  answered  him. 

"Drunk  or  raving!"  said  he. 

"Right  yeu  were,  sir,"  replied  Silver;  "and  precious 
little  odds  which,  to  you  and  me." 

"I  suppose  you  would  hardly  ask  me  to  call  you  a 
humane  man,"  returned  the  doctor,  with  a  sneer,  "and 
so  my  feelings  may  surprise  you,  Master  Silver.  But 
if  I  were  sure  they  were  raving — as  I  am  morally  cer- 
tain one,  at  least,  of  them  is  down  with  fever — I  should 
leave  this  camp,  and,  at  whatever  risk  to'L_„  own 
carcass,  take  them  the  assistance  of  my  skill." 

"Ask  your  pardon,  sir,  you  would  be  very  wrong," 
quoth  Silver.  "You  would  lose  your  precious  life,  and 
you  may  lay  to  that.  I'm  on  your  side  now,  hand  and 
glove;  and  I  shouldn't  wish  for  to  see  the  party  weak- 
ened, let  alone  yourself,  seeing  as  I  know  what  I  owes 
you.  But  these  men  down  there,  they  couldn't  keep 
their  word — no,  not  supposing  they^wished  to;  and 
what's  more,  they  couldn't  believe  as  you  could." 

"No,"  said  the  doctor,  "you're  the  man  to  keep  your 
word,  we  know  that." 

Well,  that  was  about  the  last  news  we  had  of  the 
three  pirates.  Only  once  we  heard  a  gunshot  a  great 
way  off,  and  supposed  them  to  be  hunting.  A  council 
was  held,  and  it  was  decided  that  we  must  desert  them 
on  the  island — to  the  huge  glee,  I  must  say,  of  Ben 
Gunn,  and  with  the  strong  approval  of  Gra>.  We  left 
a  good  stock  of  pow der  and  shot,  the  bulk  of  the  salt 
goat,  a  few  medicines,  and  some  other  necessaries, 
tools,  clothing,  a  spare  sail,  a  fathom  or  two  of  rope, 
and,  by  the  particular  desire  of  the  doctor,  a  hand- 
some present  of  tobacco. 

That  was  about  our  last  doing  on  the  island.  Before 
that  we  had  got  the  treasure  stowed,  and  had  shipped 
enough  water  and  the  remainder  of  the  goat  meat,  in 


TREASURE  ISLAND.  233 

ease  of  any  distress;  and  at  last,  one  fine  morning,  we 
weighed  anchor,  which  was  about  all  that  we  could 
manage,  and  stood  out  of  North  Inlet  the  same  colors 
flying  that  the  captain  had  flown  and  fought  under  at 
the  palisade. 

The  three,  fellows  must  have  been  watching  us  closer 
than  we  thought  for,  as  we  soon  had  proved.  For, 
coming  through  the  narrows,  we  had  to  lie  very  near 
the  southern  point,  and  there  we  saw  all  three  of  them 
kneeling  together  on  a  spit  of  sand,  with  their  arms 
raised  in  supplication.  It  went  to  all  our  hearts,  1 
think,  to  leave  them  in  that  wretched  state;  but  we 
could  not  risk  another  mutiny;  and  to  take  them  home 
for  the  gibbet  would  have  been  a  cruel  sort  of  kind 
ness.  The  doctor  hailed  them  and  told  them  of  the 
stores  we  had4eft,  and  where  they  were  to  find  them, 
but  they  continuel  to  call  us  by  name,  and  appeal  to 
us,  for  God's  sake,  to  be  merciful,  and  not  leave  them 
.to  die  in  such  a  place. 

At  last,  seeing  the  ship  still  bore  on  her  course,  and 
was  now  swiftly  drawing  out  of  ear-shot,  one  of  them 
—I  know  not  which  it  was^leaped  to  his  feet  with  a 
hoarse  cry,  whipped  his  musket  to  his  shoulder,  and 
sent  a  shot  whistling  over  Silver's  head  and  through 
the  mainsail. 

After  that,  we  kept  under  cover  of  the  bulwarks,  and 
when  next  I  looked. out  they  had  disappeared  from  the 
spit,  and  the  spit  itself  had  almost  melted  out  of  sight 
in  the  glowing  distance.  That  was,  at  least,  the  end 
of  that;  and  before  noon,  to  my  inexpressible  joy,  the 
highest  rock  of  Treasure  Island  had  sunk  into  the  blue 
round  of  sea. 

We  were  so  short  of  men  that  every  one  on  board 
had  to  bear  a  hand — only  the  captain  lying  on  a  mat- 
tress in  the  stern  and  giving  his  orders;  for,  though 
greatly  recovered,  he  was  still  in  want  of  quiet.  We 
laid  her  head  for  the  nearest  port  in  Spanish  America, 


234  TREASURE  ISLAND. 

for  we  coald  not  risk  the  voyage  home  without  trerm 
hands;  and  as  it  was,  what  with  baffling  winds  and  a 
couple  ot  fresh  gales,  we  were  all  worn  out  before  we 
reached  it. 

It  was  just  at  sundown  when  we  cast  anchor  in  j\ 
most  beautiful  land-locked  gulf,  and  were  immediately 
surrounded  by  shore  boats  full  of  negroes,  and  Mexican 
Indians,  and  half-bloods,  selling  fruits  and  vegetables, 
and  offering  to  dive  for  bits  of  money.  The  sight  of 
so  many  good-humored  faces  (especially  the  blacks), 
the  taste  of  the  tropical  fruits,  and  above  all,  the  lights 
that  began  to  shine  in  the  town,  made  a  most  charm- 
ing contrast  to  our  dark  and  bloody  sojourn  on  the 
island;  and  the  doctor  and  the  squire,  taking  me  along 
with  them,  went  ashore  to  pass  the  early  part  of  the 
night.  Here  they  met  the  captain  of  an  English  man> 
of-war,  fell  in  talk  with  him,  went  on  board  his  ship, 
and,  in  shorty  had  so  agreeable  a  time,  that  day  was 
breaking  when  we  came  alongside  the  "Hispaniola." 

Ben  Gunn  was  on  deck  alone,  and,  as  soon  as  we 
came  on  board,  he  began,  with  wonderful  contortions, 
to  make  us  a  confession.  Silver  was  gone.  The  ma- 
roon had  connived  at  his  escape  in  a  shore-boat  some 
hours  ago,  and  he  now  assured  us  he  had  only  done  so 
to  preserve  our  lives,  which  would  certainly  have  been 
forfeited  if  "that  man  with  the  one  leg  had  stayed 
aboard."  But  this  was  not  all.  The  sea-cook  had  not 
gone  empty-handed.  He  had  cut  through  a  bulk-head 
unobserved,  and  had  removed  one  of  the  sacks  of  coin, 
worth,  perhaps,  three  or  four  hundred  guineas,  to  help 
him  on  his  further  wanderings. 

I  think  we  were  all  pleased  to  be  so  cheaply  quit  of 
him. 

Weil,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  we  got  a  few  hands 
on  board,  made  a  good  cruise  home,  and  the  "His- 
pamtoia>1  reached  Bristol  just  as  Mr.  Blandly  was  be- 
ginning to  think  of  fitting  out  her  consort    Five  men 


TREASURE  ISLAND*  m 

only  of  those  who   had   sailed  returned  with   her, 
"Drink  and  the  devil  had  done  for  the  reef '  with  a 
vengeance;  although,  to  be  sure,  we  were  not  quite  in 
So  bad  a  case  as  that  other  ship  they  sung  about: 
"With  one  man  of  the  crew  alive 
What  put  to  sea  with  seventy-five^' 

All  of  us  had  an  ample  share  of  the  treasure,  and 
used  is  wisely  or  foolishly,  according  to  our  natures. 
Captain  Smollett  is  now  retired  from  the  sea*  Gray 
not  only  saved  his  money,  but,  being  suddenly  smit 
with  the  desire  to  rise,  also  studied  his  profession;  and 
he  is  now  mate  and  part  owner  of  a  fine  full-rigged 
ship;  married  besides,  and  the  father  of  a  family.  As 
for  Ben  Gunn.'h'e  got  a  thousand  pounds,  which  he 
spent  Or  lost  in  three  weeks,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  in 
nineteen  days,  for  he  was  back  begging  on  the  twen- 
tieth. Then  he  was  given  a  lodge  to  keep,  exactly  as 
he  had  fared  upon  the  island;  and  he  still  lives,  a  great 
favorite,  though  something  of  a  butt,  with  the  coun- 
try boys,  and  a  notable  singer  in  church  on  Sundays 
and  saints'  days. 

Of  Silver  we  have  heard  no  more.  That  formidable 
seafaring  man  with  one  leg' has  at  last  gone  clean  out 
of  my  life;  but  I  dare  say  he  met  his  old  negress,  and 
perhaps  still  lives  in  comfort  with  her  and  Captain 
Flint.  It  is  to  be  hoped  so,  I  suppose,  for  his  chances 
of  comfort  In  another  world  are  very  small. 

The  bar  silver  and  the  arms  still  lie,  for  alt  that  I 
know,  where  Flint  buried  them;  and  certainly  they 
shall  lie  there  for  me.  Oxen  and  wain-ropes  would  not 
bring  me  back  again  to  that  accursed  island;  and  the 
worst  dreams  that  ever  I  have  are  when  I  hear  the 
surf  booming  about  its  coasts,  or  start  upright  in  bed, 
with  the  sharp  voice  of  Captain  Flint  still  ringing  in 
my  ears:    "Pieces  of  eight!  pieces  of  eight!" 

THE   END. 


THE  FLOWERS'  WORK 


BY  FRANCES  HENSHAW  BADEN 


THE  FLOWERS'  WORK 


■  ■  See,  mother^  I've  'nished  my  bouquet.  Isn't 
it  beautiful?  More  so,  I  think,  than  those  made 
by  the  florist  which  he  asked  two  dollars  for,  and  this 
has  cost  me  but  seventy-five  cents." 

"  Yes,  yes,  it  is  very  pretty.  But,  dear  me,  child,  I 
cannot  help  thinking  how  illy  we  can  spare  so  much 
for  such  a  very  useless  thing.  Almost  as  much  as 
you  can  make  in  a  day  it  has  cost." 

"Don't  say  useless,  mother.  It-  will  express  to 
Edward  our  appreciation  of  his  exertions  and  their 
result,  and  our  regards.  How  he  has  struggled  to  ob- 
tain a  profession!  I  only  wish  I  could  cover  the  plat- 
form with  bouquets,  baskets  and  wreaths  tonight, 
when  he  receives  his  diploma." 

"Well,  well;  if  it  will  do  any  good,  I  shall  not  mind 
the  expense.  But,  child,  he  will  know  it  is  from  you, 
and  men  don't  care  for  such  things  coming  from  home 
folks.  Now,  if  it  was  from  any  other  young  lady,  I 
expect  he'd  be  mightily  pleased." 

"Oh,  mother,  I  don't  think  so.    Edward  will  think 
as  much  of  it,  coming  from  his  sister-in-law,  as  from 
any  other  girl.     And  it  will  please  Kate,  too.     If  we 
do  not  think  enough  of  him  to  send  him  bouquets," 
who  ebe  could?    Rest  easy,  mother,  dear;    I  feel 

3 


t  The  Flowers'  Work      ■ 

quite  sure  my  bouquet  will  do  much  good,"  answered 
Annie,  putting  her  bouquet  in  a  glass  of  water. 

She  left  the  room  to  make  her  simple  toilet  for  the 
evening. 

Mrs.  Grey  had  been  widowed  when  her  two  little 
girls  were  in  their  infancy.  It  had  been  a  hard  strug- 
gle for  the  mother  to  raise  her  children.  Constant 
toil,  privation  and  anxiety  had  worn  heavily  on  her 
naturally  delicate  constitution,  until  she  had  become 
a  confirmed  invalid.  But  there  was  no  longer  a  ne- 
cessity for  her  toiling.  Katy,  the  elder  daughter, 
was  married;  and  Annie,  a  loving,  devoted  girl,  could 
now  return  the  mother's  long  and  loving  care.  By 
her  needle  she  obtained  a  support  for  herself  and 
mother. 

Katy's  husband  held  a  position  under  the  govern- 
ment, receiving  a  small  compensation,  only  sufficient 
for  the  necessities  of  the  present,  and  of  very  uncer- 
tain continuance.  He  was  ambitious  of  doing  better 
than  this  for  himself,  as  well  as  his  family.  So  he  em- 
ployed every  spare  hour  in  studying  medicine,  and  it 
was  the  night  that  he  was  to  receive  his  diploma  tnat 
my  little  story  begins. 

The  exercises  of  the  evening  were  concluded.  Ed- 
ward Roberts  came  down  the  aisle  to  where  his  wift 
and  Annie  were  seated,  bearing  his  flowers  —  an  ele- 
gant basket,  tastefully  arranged,  and  a  beautiful  bou- 
que'  But  it  needed  only  a  quick  glance  for  Annie  to 
see  it  was  not  her  bouquet.  Although  the  flowers 
were  fragrant  and  rare,  they  were  not  so  carefully  se- 
lected or  well  chosen.  Hers  expressed  not  alone  hei 
affection  and  appreciation,  but  his  energy,  persever- 
ance and  success. 


The  Flowers'  Work  5 

"Why,  where  is  my  bouquet?  I  do  not  see  it," 
asked  Annie,  a  look  of  disappointment  on  her  usually 
bright  face. 

"  Yours?  I  do  not  know.  Did  you  send  me  one?" 
returned  her .  brother-in-law. 

"  Indeed  I  did.  And  such  a  beauty,  too!  It  is  too 
bad !  I  suppose  it  is  the  result  of  the  stupidity  of  the 
young  man  in  whose  hands  I  placed  it.  I  told  him 
plain > enough  it  was  for  you,  and  your  name,  witl. 
mine,  v/as  on  the  card,"  answered  Annie,  really  very 
much  provoked. 

"Well,  do  not  fret,  little  sister;  I  am  just  as  much 
obliged;  and  perchance  some  poor  fellow  not  so  fortu- 
nate as  I  may  have  received  it,"  answered  Edward 
Roberts. 

"  Don't,  for  pity's  sake,  let  mother  know  of  the  mis- 
take, or  whatever  it  is,  that  has  robbed  you  of  your 
bouquet.  She  will  fret  dreadfully  about  it,"  said 
Annie. 

All  that  night,  until  she  was  lost  in  sleep,  did  she 
constantly  repeat: 

"I.  wonder  who  has  got  it?" 

She  had  failed  to  observe  on  the  list  of  graduates 
the  name  of  Edgar  Roberts,  from  Ohio,  or  she  might 
have  had  an  idea  into  whose  hands  her  bouquet  had 
fallen.  Her  brother  Edward,  immediately  on  hearing 
Annie's  exclamation,  thought  how  the  mistake  had 
occurred,  and  was  really  glad  that  it  was  as  it  was; 
for  the  young  man  whose  name  was  so  nearly  like  his 
own  was  a  stranger  in  the  city,  and  Edward  had  no- 
ticed his  receiving  one  bouquet  only,  which  of  course 
was  the  missing  one,  and  Annie's. 

Edgar  Roberts  sat  in  his  room  that  night,  after  his 


6  The  Flowers'  Work 

return  from  the  distribution  of  diplomas,  holding  in 
his  hand  Annie's  bouquet,  and  on  the  table  beside 
him  was  a  floral  dictionary.  An  expression  of  grati- 
fication was  on  his  pleasant  face,  and,  as  again  and 
again  his  eyes  turned  from  the  flowers  to  seek  their 
interpreter,  his  lips  were  wreathecHvith  smiles,  and 
he  murmured  low: 

"Annie  Grey!  Sweet  Annie  Grey!  I  never 
dreamed  of  any  one  in  this  place  knowing  or  caring 
enough  for  me  to  send  such  a  tribute.  How  carefully 
these  flowers  are  chosen!  What  a  charming,  appre- 
ciative little  girl  she  is!  Pretty,  I  know,  of  course. 
I  wonder  how  she  came  to  send  me  this?  How  shall 
I  find  her?     Find  her  I  must,  and  know  her." 

And  Edgar  Roberts  fell  asleep  to  dream  of  Annie 
Grey,  and  awoke  in  the  morning  whispering  the  last 
words  of  the  night  before : 

"Sweet  Annie  Grey!" 

During  the  day  he  found  it  quite  impossible  to.  fix 
his  mind  on  his  work;  mind  and  heart  were  both  occu- 
pied with  thoughts  of  Annie  Grey.  And  so  it  con- 
tinued to  be  until  Edgar  Roberts  was  really  in  love 
with  a  girl  he  knew  not,  nor  had  ever  seen.  To  find 
her  was  his  fixed  determination.  But  how  delicately 
he  must  go  about  it.  He  could  not  make  inquiry 
among  his  gentlemen  acquaintances  without  specu- 
lations arising;  and  a  name  sacred  to  him  then,  passed 
from  one  to  another,  lightly  spoken,  perhaps.  Then 
he  bethought  himself  of  the  city  directory;  he  would 
consult  that.  And  so  doing  he  found  Greys  innumer- 
able —  some  in  elegant,  spacious  dwellings,  some  in 
the  business  thoroughfares  of  the  place.  The  young 
ladies  of  the  rkst_mentioned,  he  thought,  living  in 


The  Flowers'  Work  f 

fashionable  life,  surrounded  by  many  admirers,  would 
scarcely  think  of  bestowing  any  token  of  regard 
or  appreciation  on  a  poor  unknown  student.  The 
next  would  have  but  little  time  to  devote  to  such 
things;  and  time  and  thought  were  both  spent  in  the 
arrangement  of  his  bouquet.  ,  Among  the  long  list  of 
Greys  he  found  one  that  attracted  him  more  than 
all  the  others  —  a  widow,  living  in  a  quiet  part  of 
the  city,  quite  near  his  daily  route.  So  he  sought  and 
found  the  place  and  exact  number.  Fortune  favored 
Jiim.  Standing  at  the  door  of  a  neat  little  frame  cot- 
tage he  beheld  a  young  girl  talking  with  two  little 
children.  She  was  not  the  blue-eyed,  golden-haired 
girl  of  his  dreams,  but  a  sweet,  earnest  dove-eyed 
darling.  And  what  care  he,  whether  her  eyes  were 
blue  or  brown,  if  her  name  were  only  Annie?  Oh, 
how  could  he  find  out  that? 

She  was  bidding  the  little  ones  "good-bye."  They 
were  off  from  her,  on  the  sidewalk,  when  the  elder 
child — a  bright,  laughing  boy  of  five  —  sang  out, 
kissing  his  little  dimpled  hand: 

"Good-bye,  Annie,  darling!" 

Edgar  Roberts  felt  as  if  he  would  like  to  clasp  the 
little  fellow  to  the  heart  he  had  relieved  of  all  anxiety. 
No  longer  a  doubt  was  in  his  mind.  He  had  found 
his  Annie  Grey. 

From  that  afternoon,  twice  every  day  he  passed  the 
cottage  of  the  widow  Grey,  frequently  seeing  sweet 
Annie.  This,  however,  was  his  only  reward.  She 
never  seemed  at  all  conscious  of  his  presence.  Often 
her  eyes  would  glance  carelessly  toward  him.  Oftenei 
they  were  never  raised  from  her  work.  Sewing  by 
the  window,  she  alwavs  was. 


8  The  Flowers'  Work 

Wh^t  next?  How  to  proceed,  on  his  fixed  deter- 
mination of  winning"  her,  if  possible? 

Another  bright  thought.  He  felt  pretty  sure  she 
attended  church  somewhere;  perhaps  had  a  class  in 
the  Sabbath  school.  So  the  next  Sunday  morning, 
at  an  early  hour,  he  was  commanding  a  view  of  An- 
nie's home.  When  the  school  bells  commenced  to 
ring,  he  grew  very  anxious.  A  few  moments,  and 
the  door  opened  and  the  object  of  his  thoughts  stepped 
forth."  How  beautiful  she  looked  in  her  pretty  white 
suit!  Now  Edgar  felt  his  cause  was  in  the  ascend- 
ancy. Some  distance  behind,  and  on  the  other  side 
of  the  street,  he  followed,  ever  keeping  her  in  view 
until  he  saw  her  enter  a  not  far  distant  church.  Ev- 
ery Sunday  after  found  him  an  attentive  listener  to 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Ashton,  who  soon  became  aware  of  the 
presence  of  the  young  gentleman  so  regularly,  and 
apparently  so  much  interested  in  the  services.  So 
the  good  man  sought  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  Ed- 
gar, and  urge  his  accepting  a  charge  in  the  Sabbath 
school.  We -can  imagine  Edgar  needed  no  great  urg- 
ing on  that  subject;  so,  frequently,  he  stood  near  his 
Annie.  In  the  library,  while  selecting  books  for  their 
pupils,  once  or  twice  they  had  met,  and  he  had  handed 
to  her  the  volume  for  which  her  hand  was  raised. 
Of  course  a  smile  and  bow  of  acknowledgment  and 
thanks  rewarded  him.  < 

Edgar  was  growing  happier,  and  more  confident  of 
final  success  every  week,  when  an  event  came  which 
promised  a  speedy  removal  of  all  difficulty  in-  his 
path.  The  school  was  going  to  have  a  picnic.  Then 
and  there  he  would  certainly  have  an  introduction  to 
Annie,  and  after  spending  a  whole  day  with  her,  he 


The  Flowers'  Work  ^ 

would  accompany  her  home  and  win  the  privilege  of 
calling  often. 

The  day  of  the  picnic  dawned  brightly,  and  the 
happy  party  gathered  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer. 
The  first  person  who  met  Edgar  Roberts'  eye  was  his 
fellow-student,  Edward  Roberts.  Standing  beside 
him  were  two  ladies  and  some  children.  When  Ed- 
gar hastened  up  to  speak  to  his  friend,  the  ladies 
r.\rned,  and  Edward  presented: 

"My  wife;  my  sister,  Miss  Grey." 

Edgar  Roberts  could  scarcely  suppress  an  exclama- 
tion of  joy  and  surprise.  His  looks  fully  expressed 
how  delighted  he  wai0 

Three  months  had  he  been  striving  for  this,  which, 
if  he  had  only  known  it,  could  have  been  obtained  so 
easily  through  his  friend  and  her  brother.  But  what 
was  so  difficult  to  win  was  the  more  highly  prized. 
What  a  happy  day  it  was! 

Annie  was  all  he  had  believed  her  —  charming  in 
every  way.  Edgar  made  a  confidant  of  his  friend; 
told  him  what  Edward  well  knew  before,  but  was  wise 
enough  not  to  explain  the  mistake  —  of  his  hopes  and 
fears ;  and  won  from  the  prudent  brother  the  promise 
to  help  him  all  he  could. 

Accompanying  Annie  home  that  evening,  and  gain- 
ing her  permission  for  him  to  call  again,  Edgar  lost  no 
time  in  doing  so,  and  often  repeated  the  call. 

Perhaps  Annie  thought  him  very  fast  in  his  wooing, 
and  precipitate  in  declaring  his  love,  when,  after  only 
a  fortnight  visiting  her,  he  said: 

"Annie,  do  you  like  me  well  enough,  and  trust  in 
me  sufficiently,  to  allow  me  to  ask  your  mother  to  call 
me  her  son?" 


10  The  Flowers'  Work 

Either  so  happy  or  so  surprised  was  Annie,  that  she 
could  not  speak  just  then.  But  roses  crowded  over 
her  fair  face,  and  she  did  not  try  to  withdraw  the  hand 
he  had  clasped. 

"Say,  Annie,  love,"  he  whispered.  She  raised  her 
eyes  to  his  with  such  a  strange,  surprised  look  in  them, 
that  he  laughed  and  said: 

"You  think  I  am  very  hasty,  Annie.  You  don't 
know  how  long  I've  loved  you,  and  have  waited  for 
this  hour." 

"Long! — two  weeks,"  she  said. 

"Why,  Annie,  darling,  it  is  over  three  months  since 
I've  been  able  to  think  of  anything  save  Annie  Grey — ■ 
ever  since  the  night  I  received  my  diploma,  and  your 
sweet,  encouraging  bouquet,  bince  that  night  I've 
known  and  loved  you.  And  how  I've  worked  for 
this  hour!" 

And  then  he  told  her  how  it  was.  And  when  he 
had  finished,  she  looked  at  him,  her  eyes  dancing  mer- 
rily, and  though  she  tried  hard  to  keep  the  little  rose- 
bud of  a  mouth  demurely  shut,  it  was  no  use  —  it 
would  open  and  let  escape  a  rippling  laugh,  as  she  said: 

"And  this  is  the  work  my  bouquet  went  about,  is 
it?    This  is  the  good  it  has  done  me — "     She  hesi- 
tated; the  roses  deepened  their  color  as  she  continued 
"And  you—" 

"  Yes,  Annie,  it  has  done  much  good  to  me,  and  I 
hope  to  you  too." 

"  But,  Edgar — "  it  was  the  first  time  she  had  called 
him  thus,  and  how  happy  it  made  him — "I  must  tell 
you  the  truth  —  I  never  sent  you  a  bouquet!" 

"No!  oh,  do  not  say  so.  Can  there  be  another 
such  Annie  Grey?" 


The  Flowers'  Work  ifc 

"No;  I  am  the  one  who  sent  the  bouquet;  but,  Ed- 
gar, you  received  it  through  a  mistake.  It  was  in* 
tended  for  my  brother-in-law,  Edward !,% 

"  Stop,  Annie,  a  moment — Are  you  sorry  that  mis- 
take was  made?  Do  you  regret  it?"  said  Edgar,  his 
voice  filled  with  emotion. 

"No  indeed.  I  am  very  glad  you  received  it  in- 
stead," Annie  ingenuously  replied;  adding  quickly, 
"But,  please,  do  not  tell  Edward  I  said  so." 

"No,  no;  I  will  not  tell  him  that  you  care  a  little 
more  for  Edgar  than  Edward%  Is  that  it?  May  I 
think  go,  Annie?" 

She  nodded  her  head,  and  he  caught  her  to  his 
heart,  whispering: 

"Mine  at  last.  My  Annie,  darling!  What  a 
blessed  mistake  it  was!  May  I  go  to  your  mother, 
Annie?" 

"Yes;  and  I'll  go  with  you,  Edgar,  and  hear  if  she 
will  admit  those  flowers  did  any  good.  She  thought 
it  a  useless  expenditure." 

The  widow  Qrey  had  become  very  much  attached 
to  the  kind,  attentive  young  man,  and  when  he  came 
with  Annie,  and  asked  her  blessing  on  their  love,  she 
gave  it  willingly;  and  after  hearing  all  about  the  way 
it  happened,  she  said: 

"  Never  did  flowers  such  a  good  work  before.  They 
carried  Edgar  to  church,  made  a  Christian  of  him,  and 
won  for  Annie  a  good,  devoted  husband,  and  for  ™e 
an  affectionate  son." 


THF  END. 


ALWAYS  ASK  FOR  THE  DONOHUE 

Complete  Editions  and  you  will  get  the  best  for  the  least  money 


BOOKS     MRS#   E#  £).   £>  N# 


SOUTHWORTH 

AN     ATTRACTIVE     LIST     OF     THE 
WORKS  OF  TfflS  POPULAR  AUTHOR 


THE  first  eighteen  titles  with  brackets  are  books 
with  sequels,  "Victor's  Triumph,"  being  a  sequel 
to  "Beautiful  Fi  *id,"  etc.  They  are  all  printed 
from  large,  clear  type  on  a  superior  quality  ef  flexible 
paper  ana  bound  in  English  vellum  cloth,  assorted  col- 
ors, containing  charming  female  heads  lithographed  in 
twelve  colors,  as  inlays;  the  titles  being  stamped  in 
harmonizing  colors  of  ink  or  foil.     Cloth,  12mo  size. 


U 


Beautiful  Fiend,  A  26  Discarded  Daughter,  The 

Victor's  Triumph  27  Doom  of  Deville,  The 

{  J   ££&?%*.  »  Eudora 

f  5    Cruel  as  the  Grave  Z*  Fatal  Secret  A 

1  6    Tried  for  Her  Life  30  Fortune  Seeker 

f  7   Fair  Play  31  Gypsy's  Prophecy 

t  8    How  He  Won  Her  32  Haunted  Homestead 

f  9    Family  Doom  33  India;  or,  The  Pearl  of 

110    Maiden  Widow  v        Pearl  River 

J 11    Hidden  Hand,  The  34  Lady  of  the  Isle,  The 

U2    Capitola's  Peril  35  Lost  Heiress,  The 

{l4   SftELd  f7  Love;sI,aborW«n 

[  IS   Lost  Heir  of  Linlithgow  !'  ^s.mg  ?Tf' T  C 

\16    Noble  Lord.  A  38  Motner-m-Law 

}  17    Unknown  39  Prince  of  Darkness,  and 
118   Mystery  of  Raven  Rocks  Artist's  Love 

19  Bridal  Eve,  The  40  Retribution 

20  Bride's  Dowry,  The  «1  Three  Beauties,  The 

21  Bride  of  Llewellyn,  The  42  Three  Sisters,  The 

22  Broken  Engagement,  The  43  Two  Sisters,  The 

23  Christmas  Guest,  The  44  Vivian 

24  Curse  of  Clifton  45  Widow's  Son 

25  Deserted  Wife,  The  46  Wife's  Victory 

All  of  the  above  books  may  be  had  at  the  store  where  this 
book  was  bought,  or  will  be  sent  postpaid  at  50  cent*  each  by 
the  publishers 

M.  A.  DONOHUE  &  CO. 

701-727  Dearborn  Street  CHICAGO 


ALWAYS  ASK  FOR  THeIdONOHUeI 

Complete  Editions  and  you  will  get  the  best  for  the  least  money 


THERE  IS  MONEY 

IN  POULTRY 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  PERFECTION 
POULTRY  BOOK,  By  I.  K.  FELCH, 

ET  many  old-fashion  farm- 
ers are  inclined  to  discredit 
the  statement.  Why?  Be- 
cause they  are  not  up  to 


1 


the  new  and  improved  ideas  in 
poultry  management.  A  little  trial 
of  the  rules  laid  down  in  these 
books  will  soon  dispel  all  misgiv- 
ings in  this  direction  and  tend  to 
convince  the  most  skeptical  that 
there  is  money  in  poultry-keeping. 
It  contains  a  complete  description 
of  all  the  varieties  of  fowls*  includ- 
ing turkeys,  ducks  and  geese. 

This  book  contains  double  the  number  of  illustrations  round  in 
any  similar  work.  It  is  the  best  and  cheapest  poultry  book  Jn  j;a_ 
the  market  _  Paper  covers,  25c    Cloth,  prepaid,  OvC 

POULTRY  CULTURE 

By  LK,  FELCH 

How  to  raise^  manage,  mate 
and  judge  thoroughbred  fowls, 
by  I.  K.  Felch,  the  acknowl- 
edged authority  on  poultry 
matters.  Thorough,  compre- 
hensive and  complete  treatise 
on  all  kinds  of  poultry.  Cloth, 
438  pages,  large  12mo,  and 
over  70  full-page  and  other  il- 
lustrations. Printed  from  clear 
type  on  good  paper,  stamped 
on  side  and  back  from  ornate, 
appropriate  designs.  a*  »a 
Price,  prepaid,  Jpl.JJU 

For  sale  by  all  book  and  newsdeal- 
ers, or  will  send  to  any  address  in 

the  United  States,  Canada  or  Mexico,  postage  prepaid*  on  receipt 
of  price,  in  currency,  money  order  or  stamps. 

M.  A.  DONOHUE  &  CO.  S^eWhIBSSS    / 


I  ALWAYS  4fl*  «>*  rOT  DONOHUE 

I   COMPLETE  EDITIONS  — THE  BEST  FOR  LEAST  MONEY 


Donohue's  Plays,  Dialogs, 
Readings,  Recitations,^ 


D 


CAREFULLY  compiled  series  of  books,  which  includes 
eveything  that  is  fresh,  popular  and  up-to-date.  Em- 
bracing, Humorous,  Sentimental,  Patriotic  Serious, 
Comic,  Eloquent,  Pathetic,  Character  and  Dialect 
Sketches  that  are  always  in  demand. 

MODEL  SERIES  OF  SPEAKERS  AND  DIALOGS 

Nob.  1   to  14,  recitations  and   dialogs  for  all  occasions, 
price,  10c  each  - 

COMIC  READINGS  AND  RECITATIONS 

192  pages  all  cdmic  and  humorous,  price,  ^25c  in  paper. 
50c  in  cloth. 

PATRIOTIC  RECITATIONS  AND  READINGS 

192  pages  for  all  patriotic  occasions,  price,  25c  in  paper. 
50c  in  cloth. 

TOMMY'S  FIRST  SPEAKER 

Over   300   short,    simple   pxeces    for    little   tots.       Cloth; 
50c« 

TOMMY'S  SECOND  SPEAKER 

Over   200   serious,  quaint  pieces  for   older  ones.     Cloth, 
50c. 

DEARBORN  SPEAKER  AND  DIALOGS 

Original  and  selected  readings  for  all  purposes  with  obser- 
vations for  study  and  practice.     Cloth,  75c. 

YOUNG  FOLKS  DIALOGS  AND  DRAMAS 

Short,  pretty,  funny  for  all  occasions,  paper  25c.     Cloth, 
50c. 

EVERYBODY'S  SPEAKER  AND  ENTERT AXNFR 

Contains  select  readings,  dialogs  and  dramas.     Illustrated. 
Cloth,  $1.00. 

AMERICAN  STAR  SPEAKER  AND  ELOCUTIONIST 

Complete   text   on   how    to   reoite.       225  selections,    550 
pages.     Cloth  $1.50. 

The  above  books  have  been  carefully  prepared  for  pupils 
of  all  ages,  and  are  especially  adopted  for  the  use  of  School", 
Churches,  Lyceums,  Anniversaries,  Temperance  Societies, 
Lodges,  in  fact,  they  are  indispensable  when  preparing  for  any 
public  entertainment. 

For  sale  by  all  Book  and  Newsdealers,  or  will  be  sent  to  any 
address  in  the  United  States,  Canada  or  Mexico,  postage  paid, 
on  receipt  of  price,  in  currency,  money  order  or  stamps, 

M.  A.  DONOHUE  &  CO. 

701-727  S.  DEARBORN  STREET     ::      CHICAGO 


FAMOUS  BOOKS  IN  REBOUND  EDITIONS 

HEIDI 

A  Child's  Story  of  Life  in  the  Alps 

By  Johanna  Spyri 

595  pages — illustrated.    Printed  from  new  plates;  neatly  bound  is 

cloth. 

PINOCCHIO 
A  Tale  of  a  Puppet— By  C.  Collodi 

Printed  from  new  plates  on  a  good  grade  of  paper;  neatly  bound 
in  cloth;  illustrated. 

ELSIE  DINSMORE 
By  Martha  Finley 
Beautiful  edition  of  this  popular  book.    Printed  from  new  plates* 
covers  stamped  in  four  colors  from  original  design. 

BROWNIES  AND  OTHER  STORIES 

Illustrated  by  Palmer  Cox 
320  pages  and  containing  an  illustration  on  nearly  every  page; 
printed  from  new  plates  from  large,  clear  type,  substantially  bound 
in  cloth. 

HELEN'S  BABIES 
By  John  Habberton 
This  amusing  and  entertaining  book,  printed  from  new  plates, 
cloth  binding. 

HANS  BRINKER;  or,  The  Silver  Skates 
By  Mary  Mapes  Dodge 
A  popular  edition  of  this  well-known  story  of  life  in  Holland. 

RAINY  DAY  DIVERSIONS 
By  Carolyn  Wells 

PLEASANT  DAY  DIVERSIONS 
By  Carolyn  Wells 

Printed  on  a  good  grade  of  paper  from  new  plates,  bound  in  a 
superior  grade  book  binders'  cloth.  These  volumes  have  never 
before  been  offered  for  less  than  $1.25;  for  sale  now  at  the  special 
price  of  75  cents  each. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of  price 
mentioned. 

M.  A.  DONOHUE  &  CO. 

TGI -733  So.  Dearborn  Street^  Chicago 


^m 


ft 


